Nijo Market

Sapporo’s famous Nijo market is known for its huge range of its freshly caught produce. The Market is situated 3 blocks south of the TV Tower at Odori Park.

I specially planned to visit this Market to have my fill as well as shoot as many great photos as I can, and share about this Market. My mood died the moment I saw this. 

My mum was using her mobile phone to take a photo thinking that the sign implied no photography using a handheld camera. While she was using her mobile phone to take the photo, a lady stood in front of her without a word or gesture. My mum moved aside thinking that she was obstructing the lady’s way but the lady again deliberately stood between my mum and the display again. It only makes things worse when the lady did not utter a word or show any gesture. As she seems to be trailing us, we decided to skip her stall without the thought of purchasing anything there.

Though most stalls at Nijo seem to have that sign on, the men mending the stalls decided to keep an eye close or pretended that they saw nothing whenever someone pulls out a mobile phone or a camera. 

My take on this? Well, I understand that there can be competition among the stalls for the biggest sale. But I don’t suppose all tourists can be bothered to go stall by stall to compare the prices. Seriously? There are more than 30 stalls. By the time I get to the 5th stall, I would not have remembered the items I saw at the first 2 stalls. 

So how I fare for Nijo? Average and food overpriced. Not at all exciting! I have tasted better seafood in other parts of Japan, very much fresher and at a reasonable price.

Tip: Skip Nijo Market and take a Shinkansen back to Honshu island for Hachinohe’s Hassocho centre. The prices are much more reasonable. Hachinohe is by the coast of Aomori prefecture and therefore the seafood is even fresher.