1 / 3Maguro bowl at Kashi-no-IchiPhoto: Misei sen / CC BY 4.0
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Checked against official sources · updated · Takumi Yamada
Japan's tuna capital, and the market a waterfront walk from the pier proves it — thick-cut bowls at fishmonger prices, picture menus everywhere. On Wednesdays the fish shops close, but the restaurant hall sets its own days.
- Our number 3 for Shimizu, out of ten. It is the first thing we would spend the hours on.
- Short enough to be certain of: 1 hr 50 min door to door, so even a tender day works.
- Reachable on foot from the berth, so no timetable can strand you.
- On a 4–6h ashore call our verdict is "The lunch stop" — miho or nihondaira in the morning, then here.
- Fish shops 9:30–17:30; restaurants vary by shop — ichiba-kan (fish shops) closed wednesdays; the maguro-kan restaurants set their own hours and days.
- 1 hr 50 min door to door needs a 4-hour call: a 2–3 hour stop cannot hold it. Pick something closer instead.
Why Maguro bowl at Kashi-no-Ichi is famous
Japan's number one tuna port, and almost none of it was caught nearby
Shimizu lands more frozen tuna than any other port in Japan, and this market is the fishmongers' own hall beside the quay. What that buys you is thickness: the cut in a bowl here is the cut a wholesaler keeps, not the one trimmed for a restaurant. The building is deliberately plain, because it exists for the trade first; the fish shops close on Wednesdays, while the restaurants set their own days.
Shimizu consistently lands more frozen tuna than any other port in Japan. The fish are not from this bay — they are from the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic and the far Pacific, caught by boats that stay out for a year and freeze at minus sixty on board.
Shimizu lands more frozen tuna than any other port in Japan. The fish come from the Indian, Atlantic and far Pacific oceans on longline vessels that stay out for up to a year and freeze at around −60°C on board — cold enough that "frozen" is not an insult in this trade.
The market is two halls of fishmongers and small restaurants, about 25 minutes on foot from the cruise pier (it sits by JR Shimizu Station), and a maguro-don that would be a special occasion in Tokyo is a normal lunch here.
Suruga Bay is deep enough for large vessels
Trips of up to a year; freezing at −60°C on board
And a national centre for processing
Suruga Bay is the only commercial fishery in Japan
Maguro-don at Kashi-no-Ichi, a 25-minute waterfront walk from the pier. The fish shops close on Wednesdays; the restaurants set their own days.
Three places, three different answers
The one the queue agrees on, the one people who live here use instead, and the one nearest your ship. Opening days change; check before you build a day around one.
The tuna hall of Kashi-no-Ichi: a floor of counters all cutting from the same landings.
Open in Google MapsWhere locals goIchiba-kan河岸の市 いちば館The fishmongers’ side, where the town buys. 9:30–17:30, closed Wednesdays; the Maguro-kan restaurants set their own days.
Open in Google MapsClosest to the berthKashi-no-Ichi清水魚市場 河岸の市About 25 minutes on foot from the Hinode berth (it sits by Shimizu Station) — still the shortest walk to a real market in any Japanese cruise port.
Open in Google MapsThings worth knowing
- On Wednesdays the Ichiba-kan fish shops close, but the Maguro-kan restaurants set their own days, so lunch is often still possible. Check the shop before you plan your morning.
- Order maguro-don mixing akami, chutoro and otoro rather than a single cut.
- Grilled tuna collar — kama — is cheap, large and better than it sounds.
- Buy a fresh wasabi rhizome and a small grater. It keeps for weeks and flies fine.
- Maguroマグロ — Tuna. The cut matters more than the species.
- Otoro大トロ — The fattiest belly cut. Expensive, and worth ordering once.
Maguro bowl at Kashi-no-Ichi and your ship
Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.
Where the 1 hr 50 min goes
Counted from the moment you step off the gangway, about 30 minutes after the ship arrives. The hour before all-aboard is not in this bar; it is already set aside.
25 minutes each way is the measured figure for 25 min walk, not the optimistic one. If your ship is late, cut the 1 hr in the middle. Never cut the hour at the end.
Questions people send us
How far is Kashi-no-Ichi from the Shimizu cruise pier?
About 25 minutes on foot along the waterfront (2 km) — it is beside Shimizu Station. It is one of the closest genuinely good food stops of any Japanese cruise port. On Wednesdays the Ichiba-kan fish shops close; the restaurants in Maguro-kan set their own days, so check the shop.
What should I order at Kashi-no-Ichi?
A maguro-don mixing akami (lean), chutoro (medium-fatty) and otoro (fattiest) rather than a single cut, since Shimizu is Japan's leading tuna port. Add grilled tuna collar, which is cheap and large, and sakura ebi if it is spring or autumn — Suruga Bay is the only commercial fishery for them in Japan.
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.
What to put beside it
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.
2 hr 50 min for bothDream Plaza take-homes
Wasabi (real, from the valleys upstream), deep-steamed green tea, and Chibi Maruko-chan goods — the town’s own comic icon.
See the detail
3 hr 20 min for bothSushi Yokocho alley
A whole alley of sushi counters at Dream Plaza — English-friendly, no reservations, and the fish came off the boats you can see from the window..
See the detail