Sapporo Central · Sosei RiverNo.1130★★Open in map →

Nijo Market

foodOff the trail — and worth it

A covered row of fish counters in the middle of Sapporo, a few minutes east of Odori. Seafood shops trade here beside the Sosei River, with produce stalls, small eateries and an izakaya lane folded into the same block.

FromSapporo Station
~12 minSapporo Subway, then 7 min on foot
Get off atOdori Station (Sapporo Subway)
On foot
Nijo Market

Directions ↗

The sweet spot

This is a well-known stop, not a hidden one, and on a fine morning the lane draws enough people that getting down it takes patience. What it offers is not seclusion but ordinariness: a market that still supplies the city, standing inside the downtown grid a few minutes from Odori, so you reach it without planning a detour.

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

The covered row of fish countersK. Takeda / CC BY-SA 3.0

Sosei River Parkthe narrow canal-side park where the market's west end begins
The covered row of fish countersabout twenty-five seafood shops in a line under float-ball lamps
The produce and dried-goods shopsvegetables, fruit and dried seafood set between the fresh counters
The eateries inside the marketaround ten sushi, kaisen-don and grill counters
Noren Yokochoa short lane of small izakaya on the Sosei River side

How to actually get there

Sapporo Station → Odori Station (Namboku or Toho Subway Line, one stop; fares from 210 yen).
Odori Station → Minami 3-jo Higashi 1-chome on foot, about seven minutes, crossing Sosei River Park.
Walk the covered row east to Higashi 2-chome, then come back along the canal side for the indoor stalls and the izakaya lane.

Subway to Odori, then a short walk: From Sapporo Station take the Namboku or Toho Subway Line one stop to Odori. Sapporo subway fares start at 210 yen for a single section. From Odori the market is about a seven-minute walk to the southeast, which is the access Hokkaido's official travel site gives. Trains are frequent through the day, so no timetable planning is needed.
Return from Odori Station: Walk back northwest to Odori and take the Namboku or Toho Line one stop north to Sapporo Station. The subway does not run through the night, so if you stay on for dinner in the izakaya lane, check the last departure on the platform.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Nijo Market follows Minami 3-jo in central Sapporo, a covered row of shopfronts that begins at Sosei River Park and continues east to Higashi 2-chome. Glass float balls of the kind used on fishing nets hang from the arcade ceiling as lamps. Crab, atka mackerel and scallops sit in open boxes at the front of each shop, and what reaches the counter changes with what came in that day. It is not only fish: some stalls sell Hokkaido melon, grapes and apples, and in summer the island's sweet corn. The street-front shops are the part most visitors see, but there is an indoor section as well, entered from the Sosei River side between Minami 3-jo and Minami 4-jo.

How to enjoy it

The shops here keep market hours — early starts, an afternoon wind-down — and each sets its own days off, so check one shop's schedule if a particular counter is the reason you came. Sapporo's own tourist association warns that the lane fills through the middle of the morning, which makes the first stretch after opening the easiest one to browse in. Before you leave, turn and look west: Sapporo TV Tower stands framed between the buildings above the canal.

Background & history

The market began in the early Meiji years, when fishermen from the Ishikari coast came up the Ishikari River to sell their catch on this bank of the Sosei River, then a working canal for cargo boats. Thirteen shops formed the original association, and the quarter was known as Nijo Uomachi, the Nijo fish town. Fire destroyed it, and the rebuilt market spread east until shops reached Higashi 2-chome by 1910. After the war, dry goods and prepared food joined the fish, and the name Nijo Market settled into everyday use.

Before you go

Cash: Walking the market costs nothing; you pay only at the shop you buy from. The subway takes SAPICA and the nationally interoperable IC cards, including Suica, Kitaca, PASMO and ICOCA, and ticket machines still take cash. Many shops will also arrange shipping for a fee, so a purchase does not have to travel in your luggage.
Good to know: Opening hours and closing days are set shop by shop, so a particular stall is worth checking before you build a plan around it. The street-front row is open to the air, which makes it cold in a Sapporo winter; the city's tourist association notes that kerosene stoves are set out in places during the cold months.
Another way: You can also come in from the far end. Get off at Bus Center-mae Station on the Tozai Subway Line and the market's Higashi 2-chome side is a few minutes to the south.
After you get off: Leave Odori Station by an exit on its east side and walk southeast toward Minami 3-jo Higashi 1-chome. Cross Sosei River Park and the covered row begins on the far side of the canal.