Omicho Market

This guide to Omicho Market in Kanazawa starts underground, with the snow-packed ice pits, or yuki-ana, that Kanazawa's fishmongers dug long before electricity to keep the morning catch from spoiling. You'll hear how fire chased the market from two earlier sites, including a blaze in 1690, before it settled here around 1721 as Kanazawa's single kitchen. Wander the roughly one hundred seventy stalls of crab, yellowtail and sweet shrimp, and try a bowl of raw seafood over rice at one of the counters tucked between them.