Shiogama Tuna Auction and Fish Market Tour
Miyagi Prefecture
A Fully Guided Food Tour of Shiogama
Shiogama, a coastal city in Miyagi Prefecture, is home to one of Japan’s busiest fresh tuna ports, renowned for landing some of the highest-quality tuna in the country. Each morning, the Shiogama Tuna Auction springs to life—local wholesalers, chefs, and buyers gather as premium wild-caught and farmed bluefin tuna, along with other varieties, are auctioned off with lightning speed. Shiogama also hosts a vibrant local fish market, showcasing the dazzling array of seafood from the Sanriku coastline in Northern Japan.
This fully guided tour transports travelers from Sendai Station to witness the morning’s tuna auction and explore the local seafood market, accompanied by an expert local guide. Participants purchase fresh fish and other seafood together and assemble their own sushi bowls to enjoy for brunch right there in the market.
This tour is an excellent alternative to the Toyosu Tuna Auction in Tokyo.
You don’t need to wake up at a painfully early hour of 3:00 or 4:00 a.m, it is not suffocatingly overcrowded, and the Shiogama Fish Market remains an authentic experience that has not been shaped specifically for mass tourism.
That being said, participants should understand that the Shiogama Tuna Auction and Fish Market are smaller in scale than Toyosu. Their ability to sell local tuna and fish depends on the weather and various other local factors. The tuna and other seafood available here will vary from day to day, and in cases of bad weather, the tuna auction may be scaled down or even cancelled.
Specialized Auction Floor Experience
We also offer are able to offer a specialized tuna auction experience where guests are able to enter into the actual tuna auction floor to see the tuna up close and personal. This experience cannot be booked directly and you must contact us first to consult about this program.
The tuna auction tour is otherwise run from the viewing decks on the second floor.
This is still a great way to see the entire auction and you should not feel that it is an inferior experience.
Special access onto the auction floor is for those looking for a different type of experience and one that really gets you up close.
Please note that we must vet every potential visitor for this specialized program and will need to ask about your group and will explain the specific rules you need to follow to be in such close proximity to the tuna, machinery, and fish mongers.
Please add a note about this in the contact form below if you are interested.
What's Included
Private guide, Roundtrip transportation via train from Sendai Station, Sushi bowl lunch.
Cost
28,000 yen per person (this tour runs on the basis of a minimum of 2 people)
35,000 yen per person for a private tour with private transportation (minimum 2 people)
Experience Availability
Available year-round
Average Duration
4.5 hour
Meeting Location
Sendai Station
Booking Deadline and Important Notes
Reservation availability may vary. Reserve to confirm availability.
Please note that this tour is not available on Wednesdays or Sundays. Reservations for this activity must be made at least 3 business days in advance.
Please notify us at least 3 days before if you must cancel or modify your reservation.
Tour Outline
6:15am Meetup (For those going by Train)
7:00am Meetup (For those going via our private transportation)
This tour will start early in the morning with two variations. For those on the public tour, you meet up inside Sendai Station with your local guide. Note that this meetup time is very important to make it to the tuna auction on time. Arriving late may necessitate adjustments to the tour and possible cancellation based on our judgement.
For those on a private tour with private transportation, our guide can meet you at your hotel lobby and you will depart at 7am.
Note that this is for guests staying in Sendai City. Adjustments may be necessary if you are staying at a different hotel.
We will then transfer to Shiogama City via either transportation option and go straight to the Shiogama Tuna Auction.
Tuna Auction
After this its time to see the morning tuna auction. Your guide will explain run of the auction and you will see locally caught, farmed, and imported tuna from around the world sold off at high speed at one of Japan’s largest tuna auctions.
Note that the size and scale of this tuna auction is dependent on various factors such as the weather.
Operations may be scaled down or even cancelled for reasons such as bad weather that prevent ships from going out to sea.
The Shiogama Fish Market
For the second part of our tour we will tour the seafood market of Shiogama. Your local guide will take you through this large fish market featuring the bounty of the Sanriku Coastline of Northern Japan. Here we will buy our own sashimi and other fish from the various vendors and make our own sushi bowl for brunch to end the tour.
Guests will be expected to follow the rules of this market and the instructions of the guide while on this tour.
Important rules and basic manners include not touching equipment or fish being prepared, not blocking pathways or inteferring with market operations, and other common sense mannerisms.
This is a real fish market quite unlike the fish markets of Tokyo which have had to adapt to the masses of tourists.
Let’s be sure to be good guests to the wonderful and vibrant fish mongers here at Shiogama.
Note that guests should bring their own cash for additional purchases not included in the tour. Many guests wish to buy gifts to take home or try ingredients such as uni, ikura, unagi, and some of the other endless options offered at this market.
Tour Inquiries
You can send a booking inquiry below. After we receive your inquiry, we will confirm the booking with our partners and send you a booking confirmation email at least 3 days before your desired date.
Please note this form does not confirm the availability of the experience.
Cancelation policy
Our cancelation policy for this experiences is below.
From Booking
20% deposit
8-39 days before date of experience
30% of total price
2-7 days before date of experience
40% of total price
1 day before date of experience
50% of total price
Same day
100% of total price
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