What other travelers are saying about Hirome Ichiba (Hirome Market)
Something like Huge food court with many shops you can enjoy. You can sit anywhere if it is available. Crowded at lunch time. Here you can enjoy various type of food and drinks, especially Katsuo (smoked Tuna) the famous dish of Kochi.
If you have no plan to go anywhere else. You can stay here all day!!!
More about Hirome Ichiba (Hirome Market) from our blog
Frequently Asked Questions
Hirome Ichiba is located at 2-3-1 Obiyamachi, Kochi City, Kochi Prefecture, Japan. It’s situated near the Kochi Castle, making it a convenient stop for visitors exploring the area.
Yes, Hirome Ichiba is family-friendly and offers a variety of foods and a lively, casual atmosphere that children can enjoy. There are also non-food stalls selling souvenirs and local crafts.
Yes, there are several parking lots and facilities nearby. However, parking can be limited during peak hours, so public transportation or walking from nearby attractions might be more convenient.
The famous Hirome Market is one of Kochi's main tourist attractions. We love to visit the fish market and enjoy the yummy sashimi. So we were there when we visited Kochi. The market is not as organized and easy to navigate through as the other markets we have visited in Japan. Fortunately, we found three very good restaurants in there. So our trip to Hirome Market was enjoyable.
Hirome Market feels less like a traditional market and more like a carefully curated food theme park, where your appetite is constantly stimulated from all sides. The atmosphere is loud, colourful and persuasive. You are not invited to browse so much as encouraged to consume. While it is impressive in scale, it is also strangely exhausting, as if every stall is shouting its best headline at the same time.
However, I could not understand the space itself. The entrances are sealed with heavy curtains, shutting the market off from the outside air. In such a densely populated place, full of steam, oil and voices, the lack of visible ventilation is unsettling. If anything unwanted were to circulate here, it would have nowhere to escape to. The cheerfulness of the food cannot fully mask that discomfort.
Hirome Market is efficient, popular and undeniably successful. However, it prioritises spectacle over breathing room. I left thinking not about flavours or memories, but about air. For a place that celebrates abundance, that feels like a serious, albeit quiet, flaw.
Visiting Kochi without coming here would mean you've only seen half of Kochi – it's that quintessentially Kochi.
Located in the heart of Kochi City, it's an indoor food court featuring around 60 eateries and souvenir shops.
Its defining feature is the “food stall village style = food court”, where you can gather dishes from your favourite stalls and enjoy them at communal tables alongside locals. Fondly known as “Kochi's Kitchen”, it's a place where you can casually savour local specialities like seared bonito and regional sake from midday onwards.
The trick during busy times is to secure a seat first before going to buy your food.
Interestingly, there's a sign stating: “Please refrain from picking up women”.
I visited Hirome Market on the weekend and it was extremely crowded. I bought uni from one of the shops near the entrance, but unfortunately it didn’t taste very fresh.
The market is most famous for katsuo no tataki — a local Kochi specialty of seared bonito (skipjack tuna). A few stalls selling it had very long lines, while many of the other shops were much quieter.
Overall, it’s an interesting place to explore and try local food, but weekends can feel hectic, and the quality really depends on which stall you choose.
