We stopped here after visiting Hananuki Gorge and Oiwa Shrine in the hills and mountains west of Hitachi city. Roadside Station Hitachi Osakana Center in Ibaraki Prefecture was located along the well travelled National Route 245 which connects the cities of Mito and Hitachi. One unique thing about this roadside station was their lack of an omiyage shop. Instead they had a small market selling freshly caught produce at reasonable prices.

The Hitachi Seafood Market housed a number of shops selling fresh seafood. They had a nice variety of preconstructed sashimi bowls as well as a large assortment of whole fish and shellfish. One thing that we noticed was that the typical fishy smell that’s often associated with markets like this was non-existent. The roadside station was also participating in the pin rally, so we decided to pick one up. This brings our collection to about 5 or so. It was nice to see all the other roadside stations that were participating too.

Outside there were a number of small restaurants with some picnic tables in the center. Most of the restaurants focused on fish whether it be raw, fried, or broiled. There was also a ramen shop and a tonkatsu place.

Minato Machi Yokocho Shopping Street

For lunch we headed over to the Minatomachi Yokocho Shopping Street. One of the shops allowed us to build your own sashimi bowls. It had a similar concept to the Nokke-Don in Aomori. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do it when we went in the summer. However at Minatomachi Yokocho we were able to experience the best that Ibaraki Prefecture had to offer. We grabbed a tray and began picking up the individual packages of fish that we were interested in. Most of our choices revolved around our favorites, which included tuna, salmon, and shrimp. At the register we purchased our rice. We chose from either a small, medium, or large portion. The set also came with a bowl of hot miso soup.

We sat down at one of the many tables and set out to build our own bowls. We got just the right amount of fish and were able to fill our bowls to the top. Our total came out to ¥2800 for the both of us. This wasn’t bad considering a similar sized bowl would have been in the ¥1500 – 2500 range per person. Plus, we were able to choose the exact amount and types of fish we wanted.

The fish was all very fresh and delicious. We got two different types of tuna and were surprised to find that we could taste the difference. The black tuna tasted a lot better than the regular tuna in our opinion. The red shrimp and scallop were the secondary highlights for me. Both were tender and had retained a lot of their natural taste. Amy liked the salmon which had been cut thick and tasted super fresh. We finished up our bowls and returned our trays.

Akatsu Seafood Shop

Just a little further down was the Akatsu seafood shop which sold a variety of raw and live seafood. They also had a number of tables set up with gas grills on them. We could purchase the seafood at the market and then cook it there on the grills. We’d done something similar when we went on our cycling trips to the Shimanami Kaido. The seafood BBQ looked super fun. We decided to save it for the next time we come.

The parking lot was pretty small compared to some of the other roadside stations we’ve been to. We were lucky that it wasn’t too busy when we came. The public restrooms were in a separate building and were pretty clean for the most part. There was also a small bus terminal with some beautiful Kochia in the center. We really enjoyed the plants that were still transitioning from green to red. In the past, we got to see them in their prime at Hitachi Seaside Park.

Final Thoughts

We really enjoyed making our own sashimi bowls at the Minatomachi Yokocho Shopping Street. It was fun getting to see all the different options they had and then getting to choose our favorites. The fish was super fresh and delicious. Our least favorite was the red snapper, it was a bit chewy. The black tuna was by far our favorite. It had tremendous flavor, was super fresh, and had melt in your mouth type qualities. We would definitely get it again. We enjoyed our time at Roadside Station Hitachi Osakana Center in Ibaraki Prefecture and look forward to doing the seafood BBQ next time.

More to Come…

Here is the link for their site.