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Yui Fishing Port

— Japan's sakura shrimp harbour on Suruga Bay

foodOff the trail — and worth it

A working quay on Suruga Bay where the boats that supply Japan's sakura shrimp tie up, with the fisheries cooperative's own shop at the edge of it. The catch comes ashore in two short seasons, spring and autumn.

FromShizuoka Station
~30 minJR local train, then a walk
Get off atYui Station (JR Tokaido Main Line)
On foot
Yui Fishing Port

Directions ↗

The sweet spot

Yui is not undiscovered — the shrimp is a famous Shizuoka name, and the port fills up on festival day. It is quiet in the ordinary sense instead: this is a workplace rather than a promenade, and outside the two seasons few people have a reason to come. Plan around the calendar, not around the crowd.

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Sakura shrimp from Suruga BayAyaKatase / CC BY 4.0

The quaythe working face of the port, where the paired boats tie up after a night run
The moored fleetsmall boats registered at Yui and Kambara, rigged to tow one net between two hulls
Yui Port Cooperative shopthe cooperative's own counter at the edge of the quay, selling shrimp and whitebait from the bay
Raw sakura shrimpthe chilled in-season item, and the form of the shrimp that only Suruga Bay supplies
Kamaage and su-boshithe keeping forms — briefly boiled shrimp, and whole shrimp dried in the sun

How to actually get there

Shizuoka Station → Yui Station (JR Tokaido Main Line local, about 30 min; local trains only).
Yui Station → Route 1 at the Yui Fishing Port junction (walk, downhill then flat).
Junction → the quay and the Yui Port Cooperative shop (about ten minutes on foot from the station in total).
Walk the quay, then return to Yui Station by the same route.

JR Tokaido Main Line from Shizuoka: Shizuoka Station →(JR Tokaido Main Line, local service, roughly half an hour)→ Yui Station, then about ten minutes on foot to the port. Only local trains stop at Yui; rapid and limited express services run straight through. TOICA and other IC cards work at the gate.
Back from Yui Station: The same line runs toward Shizuoka one way and toward Fuji the other. Yui is an unstaffed station with a support intercom rather than a ticket window, so settle your fare before you travel and read the departure board when you arrive — local services spread out in the evening.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Sakura shrimp are small, translucent and faintly pink, and in Japan the fishery is licensed in one place only — Suruga Bay. The boats work after dark in pairs, towing a single net between them, because the shrimp rise out of deep water at night. Yui is a narrow town squeezed between the Tokaido railway and the sea, and it is the main landing point: most of the licensed vessels are based here and at neighbouring Kambara, with a smaller fleet further west at the Oi River. What stands at the end of the road is not a visitor attraction with a harbour attached. It is a harbour, with a cooperative shop on it.

How to enjoy it

The cooperative's shop keeps to 8:00–17:00 and closes on Mondays and the day after a public holiday, which is worth checking against your train. What sits on the counter depends on the calendar: the boats work a spring season and an autumn one, roughly October to December for the latter, and nothing comes ashore in between. A shrimp festival takes over the port once a year in spring.

Background & history

The fishery is young by Japanese standards. Local accounts trace it to an accident in the Meiji era, when a Yui crew fishing for horse mackerel let their net run deeper than intended and hauled up shrimp instead; commercial fishing followed within a year or two and spread to Kambara soon after. Permits have stayed with Shizuoka boats ever since, which is why no other bay lands the shrimp for market. The fleet stands down through the summer so the shrimp can spawn, and again in the coldest months, when they stay down deep.

Before you go

Cash: Walking the quay costs nothing. Payment at the cooperative's shop is made at the counter, and a small harbour shop is not the place to rely on a card alone, so carry cash as well. Yui Station accepts TOICA and other IC cards.
Good to know: Two things shut this place: the calendar and the weather. Between seasons the boats do not sail, and the shop's Monday closure catches people out. The port's sit-down eating place is out of service with a replacement planned, so do not travel here for a meal without checking first.
Another way: From the Tokyo side, change at Fuji onto the Tokaido Main Line and come down the coast. Drivers leave Route 1 at the Yui Fishing Port junction and turn toward the sea.
After you get off: From Yui Station, walk down to Route 1 and turn seaward at the Yui Fishing Port junction. The ground is flat the whole way, and the quay and the cooperative shop are at the end of it.