Day 04: Nishiki Market!

I got up today and headed to Hakata Ippudo near Nishiki Market to get some good Japanese Ramen. The staff there and the menus were very English friendly which was nice. The food was also excellent. I got a pork broth ramen with pork belly, thin noodles, green onions, and something described as "black fungus". I was a bit iffy on the black fungus, and it was just a bit chewy but tasted good. On the side I had gyoza (pot stickers) and rice. It was excellently priced too; around $10 for what would be easily $20+ in MN before tip.

After lunch I headed to Nishiki Market, a crowded one lane street that runs 5 blocks with over 100 shops lining the sides. Most of what you see there is fresh produce and fish, with a little bit of everything else sprinkled in. The last two blocks have cross paths that prohibit traffic and basically comprise a nice shopping mall. You won't find any raw fish here, it's basically all retail with the exception of a shrine (they're everywhere!) and a pachinko parlor/arcade that's 5 stories tall. Each of the cross paths is almost as long as the market itself. It'd take probably a week to explore the whole of the market and mall. Stalls are mostly narrow, with some shops having cafes in the back or overhead as well.

Nishiki Market:

As you can see it goes on a ways, and I took this somewhere in the middle.

The mall:

Looking left...

...and right.

I probably could have spent more time looking around, but I was getting nervous about my bike being so parked so far away for so long. I'm sure no one would steal it, but I might have been in a limited time parking spot or something without knowing it. I did get to check out the arcade and pachinko parlor but they didn't allow pictures inside. It's pretty crazy in the pachinko parlor, extremely loud with attendants all over the place. Seriously, one attendant at either end of each row of ten machines with attendants going up and down the aisles and scantily clad waitresses going up and down cocktailing too. That's not much over the standard here though, even in drug stores and supermarkets there's always someone nearby to answer questions or help you with anything you need. Any time you enter any business you'll hear as many as five people say "Irasshaimase!" (means welcome basically). Anyway, the arcade above the casino was pretty extensive as well, with half a floor dedicated to crane games, the other half dedicated to fighting games, and the floor above that all rhythm games. I didn't get to the top floor, but I'd guess shooting games. It wasn't terribly busy though, I'm guessing the target demographic was in school.