What other travelers are saying about Hirome Ichiba (Hirome Market)
The famous Hirome Market is one of Kochi's main tourist attractions. We love to visit the fish market and enjoy the yummy sashimi. So we were there when we visited Kochi. The market is not as organized and easy to navigate through as the other markets we have visited in Japan. Fortunately, we found three very good restaurants in there. So our trip to Hirome Market was enjoyable.
More about Hirome Ichiba (Hirome Market) from our blog
Frequently Asked Questions
Hirome Ichiba is located at 2-3-1 Obiyamachi, Kochi City, Kochi Prefecture, Japan. It’s situated near the Kochi Castle, making it a convenient stop for visitors exploring the area.
Yes, Hirome Ichiba is family-friendly and offers a variety of foods and a lively, casual atmosphere that children can enjoy. There are also non-food stalls selling souvenirs and local crafts.
Yes, there are several parking lots and facilities nearby. However, parking can be limited during peak hours, so public transportation or walking from nearby attractions might be more convenient.
Hirome Market feels less like a traditional market and more like a carefully curated food theme park, where your appetite is constantly stimulated from all sides. The atmosphere is loud, colourful and persuasive. You are not invited to browse so much as encouraged to consume. While it is impressive in scale, it is also strangely exhausting, as if every stall is shouting its best headline at the same time.
However, I could not understand the space itself. The entrances are sealed with heavy curtains, shutting the market off from the outside air. In such a densely populated place, full of steam, oil and voices, the lack of visible ventilation is unsettling. If anything unwanted were to circulate here, it would have nowhere to escape to. The cheerfulness of the food cannot fully mask that discomfort.
Hirome Market is efficient, popular and undeniably successful. However, it prioritises spectacle over breathing room. I left thinking not about flavours or memories, but about air. For a place that celebrates abundance, that feels like a serious, albeit quiet, flaw.
I visited Hirome Market on the weekend and it was extremely crowded. I bought uni from one of the shops near the entrance, but unfortunately it didn’t taste very fresh.
The market is most famous for katsuo no tataki — a local Kochi specialty of seared bonito (skipjack tuna). A few stalls selling it had very long lines, while many of the other shops were much quieter.
Overall, it’s an interesting place to explore and try local food, but weekends can feel hectic, and the quality really depends on which stall you choose.
Greta market more for drinking than food although there are good options (sashimi, fish etc.) also the more drinking vibe may be because we went in the evening around 8pm. Unsure if it is different during the day. Drinks are around 450 yen each. Overall great and lively atmosphere.
The main shop that sells the bonito fish with rice and bonito sushi was delicious. But this market during weekend is packed with people hard to get a seat. Its frustrating when some local japanese seems racist and only offer their seat to their own people. But thankfully towards the end there was a helpful japanese lady that saw us holding the tray helplessly for almost 20mins and she came to us and ask us to her seat as she is leaving. In short, this market has variety of food but amount of crowd during weekend and certain racist japanese kills of the mood. Do go there during weekdays for better experience.
