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Hirome MarketHirome MarketHirome MarketHirome MarketHirome-Ichiba,Kochi-city,JapanHaving Bonito Tataki at Hirome Market's food courtBonito tataki at Hirome Market
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See in Kochi · #3 of the port's ten

Hirome Market

~3h — the round trip from the gangway, with the 60-minute margin kept aside.

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Photo: 雷太 / CC BY

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Round trip
3 hr
From the ship and back
Fits
a 2–3 hour stop ashore
Margin already counted
Getting there
Beside the castle
¥230 flat
Booking
Just turn up
Nothing to reserve
Why we send people here

Sixty stalls, shared tables, day-drinking locals who will toast you — Kochi’s living room. Come hungry, leave with friends you cannot name.

Why it earns the hours
  • Our number 3 for Kochi, out of ten. It is the first thing we would spend the hours on.
  • On a 4–6h ashore call our verdict is "The anchor" — a long lunch here is a legitimate use of a half-day in this city.
Before you count on it
  • ~10:00–23:00 — sundays from 7:00.
Read the full Hirome Market guide →
The story

Why Hirome Market is famous

Sixty-odd stalls around shared tables, open from morning, where nobody minds which stall your food came from. It opened in 1998 on the site of a feudal retainer's house and became the place Kochi drinks. The straw-seared bonito counters inside are the reason most visitors come.

Hirome is not a market in the shopping sense — it is a covered hall of about sixty food stalls with communal seating in the middle, where you buy from whoever you like and carry the plate to a shared table. It opened in 1998 on the site of a domain elder's residence, and it has become the social centre of the prefecture.

The reason to come is Myojinmaru, which sears katsuo over burning rice straw in the open, flames going up two metres. But the reason people remember it is the table: Kochi drinks, Kochi talks, and a foreign visitor sitting alone will not stay alone for long.

The full Hirome Market guide →
Before you go

Things worth knowing

  • Sit at a shared table, not the edge. That is the whole point of the building.
  • Order shio-tataki — with salt rather than ponzu — which is how Kochi eats it.
  • A beer at eleven in the morning is entirely normal here and nobody will react.
  • Yasube's gyoza is the second order; the queue is short and moves.
Where it is

Hirome Market and your ship

Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.

If you have longer

What fits alongside it

Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare on a 6-hour stop ashore.

Yuzu everything5 hr for bothKochi grows most of Japan’s yuzu, and it shows up in juice, ponzu, kosho paste and soft serve. Buy the ponzu from Umaji village — chefs hoard it.
Asked about Hirome Market

Questions people send us

What is Hirome Market?

A covered hall of about sixty food and drink stalls in central Kochi with communal seating in the middle — you buy from any stall and carry the plate to a shared table. It opened in 1998 and functions as the social centre of the prefecture rather than as a shopping market.

What should I eat at Hirome Market?

Katsuo tataki from Myojinmaru, which sears bonito over burning rice straw in the open. Order it shio-tataki — with salt rather than ponzu — which is the local way. Add gyoza from Yasube, and expect the person beside you to start a conversation.

The day this belongs to

Routes that already include it

Each one is a finished day we have walked and timed, with this stop in it. Read the route rather than assembling it yourself.

The rainy-day KochiA wet day · ~4h door to doorWet weather — Kochi rains hard, and the market is roofedThe castle glimpse2–3 hours · ~3h door to doorShort calls from a far berth — one target, done wellCastle & market, unhurried4–6 hours · ~5h door to doorThe city’s two anchors with the lunch they deserveThe Katsurahama loop8 hours or more · ~7h door to doorLate-stay calls only — the yatai open at ~18:00
Pairs well with

What to put beside it

Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.

Build your own day →
5 hr for both

Yuzu everything

Kochi grows most of Japan’s yuzu, and it shows up in juice, ponzu, kosho paste and soft serve.

See the detail →
The one rule: be back on board 60 minutes before all-aboard. Build the whole day on the Kochi plan page.