This is as close to an "open air" Market that you can get to in Japan. The name of this one is called Tanga Ichiba. As you can see, it's not exactly open on the top. All of the alley's that you find these kinds of Markets in are covered. It's great for everyone, especially during rainy season. Markets like these used to be easily found in Japan's cities. However, they are fast becoming extinct due to malls that are more popular to shop in these days. It's truly a shame because I think you can always find pieces of the culture in these places that make for a great experience.
When you find an alley Market like this, it's easy to get lost! You can find everything from produce...to fish....to shoes....to clothes...to traditional Kimono's. And it's cheap....well some of it's cheap!! The only way to truly understand what kinds of things you can buy here is to just show you AND of course for you to visit one! Don't forget to check out our Market video that we put on YouTube! 
Take a closer look at the picture below. The VERY LARGE fruit is wrapped individually and sold for a hefty price. The price tag for the apple is 700 yen, which is about $7.00 per apple! There's also a price tag for the cantaloupes with the green bows on top. This tag says 1800yen, which is about $18.00 for each melon. Don't worry, not all the fruit is this expensive! At least not the fruit we buy. Many times fruit is given as a gift in Japan...so it has to be BIG, BEAUTIFUL, and have a nice PRESENTATION! June is the season that we start to see watermelons. I just can't bring myself to buy a medium sized watermelon for $18-$20!! I'll wait til their cheap and pay about $10! I'll bet you'll never complain about fruit prices in the states again....at least you shouldn't!
Moving on to the vegetables. Most of these you can probably recognize below. However, when cooked "Japanese style" it becomes a little harder. Two vegetables that continue to amaze me are Dikon and Cabbage. I've never seen so many ways to pickle a vegetable like Dikon. And cabbage is a main side dish found with almost every meal. In fact, it takes the place of lettuce in most salads! Most Japanese are very surprised when coming to the states to find that most of our salads are made with lettuce and there's no corn in it either! Corn is more or less used as a topping in Japan and it's sure to be found on all salad and many pizzas!
This is our Chinese friend Shiyu! She's great at bargaining in the Market place! Shiyu along many other Japanese like to buy more than cheap produce at Tanga Ichiba. Fish is also a hot item for sale. The picture below is a fish's head. Shiyu bought one of these in order to make fish head soup for supper. Sounds delicious, doesn't it? Or How about the little crunchy dried fish to as a snack in the next picture? Don't worry it all still tastes like fish no matter the form that you eat it!
You can find all kinds of fish at this Market and it's as fresh as it can be. In fact, they're so fresh that some of them are still alive. You have to watch out for the ones that get away. One time we saw a live Octopus making it's escape down the Market alley. It wasn't long before the owner caught up with it! Another thing that is a must see at this place is the whale meat. Yes, it's still legal to hunt whale in Japan! But, it's so expensive to buy, that I think the popularity for it is declining.....thank goodness!! Sorry, I don't have a picture of the whale meat.
And what goes better with fish than fresh clams and seaweed. Until moving to Japan, I never knew there were actually different kinds of seaweed. When the Japanese ask what kind of seaweed we have in the states, we just say one kind seaweed...AKA a weed from the sea. However, I'm sure there are more educated people on this subject than I. We don't quite have a taste for seaweed!
If you don't want fish or produce, then there is always shoes and clothing. Here we are looking at the prices of shoes with Nick's parents and our dear friends the Shiraishi's. If you can't find everyday clothes to buy, then how about a Kimono? 
One of my favorite stores in Tanga Ichiba is the Kimono fabric shoes. You can choose the fabric and get a Kimono, shoes, and a matching bag made to fit! But don't be fooled, this is one store that is not cheap! All Kimono stores are expensive. Japanese usually have only one Kimono on hand. You can spend thousands of dollars or in this case yen on them. I just love window shopping! Below is a picture of the traditional Kimono for display.
We don't get to go to this Market often, but when we do it's always an interesting experience. We had fun taking both of our families there!! So now we've taken you from farms to the Market. Thanks for taking this field trip with us. We hope to show you more of our adventures in Japan.
STAY TUNED!
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