Minamitaru Market | Otaru Tourism

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Minamitaru Market, located in Shintomi Town, a little way from the tourist center, is one of the six markets in the city, and is always bustling with local customers as the city's kitchen.

Of the 27 stores, nine are fishmongers, offering the fresh, affordable fish you'd expect from the port town of Otaru. Visitors will also enjoy the local seasonal seafood, such as the rare Hakkaku (small fin fin), Kasube (ray), and Mantis Shrimp, which are rare outside of Hokkaido. In addition to the fishmongers, there are also stores selling vegetables, fruit, meat, prepared foods, daily necessities, flowers, and other items closely related to daily life, making this a market that is regularly frequented by Otaru residents.

The predecessor of Minamitaru Market was Takasago Market, which was built in 1938 (Showa 13). Takasago Market was built for people who ran street vendors. It was a very modern market for the time, and apparently was very successful when it first opened, but the Greater East Asia War broke out in 1941. It went out of business due to the shortage of supplies and rationing caused by the war.

After the war, in 1949, Minamitaru Market was established as a two-story wooden tenement house with 50 shops lined up in a row. As the wooden market deteriorated, purchasing power declined, so it needed to be renovated, and the current building was completed in 1968. Due to its poor location, 100 meters back from the national highway and with no shopping streets nearby, it initially attracted fewer customers than other markets in Otaru.

However, thanks to a strategy of holding two "weekend sales" every week, two "bargain sales" every month, and distributing over 40,000 advertisements throughout Otaru, Minamitaru has come to be known as "the king of markets" and "Minamitaru is the sole winner" since the 2000s. As Children's Day approaches, the Katsunagawa River that flows beside the market is covered with nearly 300 carp streamers and fishing flags, which have become a seasonal sight in the town.

Facility name : Minamitaru Market

Address: 12-1 Shintomicho, Otaru City, Hokkaido 047-0004

phone
0134-23-0722

Opening hours
9:00-18:00

Closed : Sundays

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This Tai Monaka chocolate features 23 lucky spots in Otaru on the packaging. Chocolate and rice puffs are placed inside a traditionally baked monaka shell made from 100% glutinous rice.

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UNGAPLUS

This shop, renovated from the "Old Otaru Warehouse Main Building," said to be the oldest commercial warehouse in Hokkaido in the Otaru North Canal area, develops and sells original products that convey the charm of Otaru. The shop tells the story of Otaru's prosperity during the Hokkaido pioneering era and the history of the Kitamae ships, and displays and sells processed seafood and agricultural products from ports of call and Hokkaido, as well as original products by artisans and artists with ties to Otaru.