At the top of the mountain, there was a signal, and I visited Marutomi Watanabe Suisan direct sales department in Mombetsu. I was alone, and my time there was short. I had to buy some fish cakes to take home. After buying them, I decided to visit a fish market that had caught my attention for a while. I didn't check if they were registered, but I wanted to stop by. As I was taking a photo of the exterior, an old man caught my eye, and from then on, he kept looking at me without saying a word. He seemed content. Should I have hit him? I didn't want to see the old man, so I thought about going to the neighboring store. It turned out to be a restaurant with a registration. I decided to go back. I was interested in their "Aotsubu" fish cakes, which my wife also enjoys. I bought 1kg. I was also tempted by the spear squid, but it seemed a bit old and was labeled for simmering, so I passed. One of the women working there wrapped the fish cakes while the other tried to persuade me to buy the spear squid, saying it was cheap. I hesitated, but I'm weak against such pressure, so I ended up buying it. I wondered if they had daikon radish. There was an interesting lady there. She was not as funny as the old man, but she was a good balance. I thought about my wife's LINE message saying "Alright." I didn't have any ideas other than simmering the daikon radish, but she suggested making squid with vinegar miso. She had harvested some chives from our garden. I was relieved that she wanted to make something different. The appearance of the dish made me think, "Isn't it too finely chopped?" "But the squid is small," was her confident response. It turned out to be quite delicious, even though it may not have been the freshest. We didn't have to worry about anything. "Is this all there is?" I wanted to have seconds. The leftover squid was made into squid rice the next day. This was also good. They used proper glutinous rice and the dish was lightly seasoned. It was a hit. We finished it in no time. The beer went down smoothly. It was a very good meal. I made sure not to think of the old man's face while eating, and it was delicious.

The fish market with a dining area is tourist-friendly and provides helpful information. I couldn't get fresh scallops, so I bought seasonal cherry salmon instead. They also sell ice packs and cooler bags if needed. I tried simple salt-grilled cherry salmon, which was delicious, but the butter-grilled one the next day was even better. The sea urchin was rich and tasty! They even gave me the head, so I made soup with it. The cherry salmon cost 1,600 yen per fish, which is much cheaper than in Tokyo. The sea urchin was also delicious (2,700 yen). It was a great shopping experience.