I came to the central market because I wanted to send hairy crabs to my sister-in-law's house. It was almost 4:00 pm, so most of the shops were closing soon, but I was approached by a friendly guy asking, "How about some crabs, or sea urchin?" After some consideration, I decided to buy 480g of live hairy crabs, which were close to 500g, for 10,000 yen (plus cool delivery and fish box for 3,000 yen). I briefly thought about buying them at a supermarket in Sapporo and bringing them to Yamato Transport myself, but in the end, it's just a service fee, right? The hairy crabs for my house were also around 480g, and they were picked out for me. I sent hairy crabs to my sister-in-law's house for New Year's this year from Nijo Market. She said the crabs were cheaper, bigger, and had a lot of meat and tasted great. Maybe hairy crabs are better not in summer? Or should I have chosen boiled crabs instead of live ones? The hairy crabs that arrived at my house were a bit short for three people. Maybe it would have been better to have more scallops and hokke fish for variety. The next day after returning to Mie, we had a Hokkaido dinner party with crabs, sea urchin, salmon... and most of them had surprisingly increased in price. Our tourist wallets didn't loosen easily, but please keep doing your best, market vendors!

When friends or acquaintances come to Hokkaido from Honshu, I often use a market called "Sapporo Chuo Oroshi Ichiba Gai Nichi" that I have been visiting for over 20 years to buy meals and seafood souvenirs. In my opinion, this market is a place where they conduct their business properly. The friendly female manager and the staff members are very polite and make it easy to shop, offering high-quality products at prices lower than those at markets in other cities like Otaru. For example, if you request shipping for 5 days later, they will boil the crab in the morning to match the early flight, and they only send fresh and good quality seafood like hokke fish. They provide services tailored to the needs of the customers, which is very fair. This time, I bought requested striped hokke and true hokke, two servings of hairy crab sashimi, 200g of salmon roe, saltwater sea urchin, two striped hokke fillets, and red snow crab. I also bought hokke fish for home consumption, ranging from 500 yen to 1400 yen per piece, and got 6 pieces in total. The photo shows a striped hokke with a thick and plump body. I lightly salted it and grated some daikon radish to enjoy. The flesh is soft and juicy, and the fat from the flesh and skin spreads a savory taste throughout the mouth. The market is also close to the horse racing track, so many horse racing-related people and jockeys visit and purchase from there. It's my favorite market to stop by every time I go back home.

I always thought that Hokkaido and Kanazawa markets were tough places where you couldn't get any discounts. I visited various shops with advertisements, but everyone seemed too busy talking to foreign customers to notice us. It's fine, I don't want to be bothered by salespeople anyway. "How about some crab?" I was being ignored left and right, until I finally got approached by this place. They had lively live crabs moving around, which caught my interest. The guy lifted up a crab from the tank, but it was too small. I asked for a bigger one, and he brought out a 500g crab. The price was... whoa (sweat). I usually buy live crabs for 1000 yen at Apita, so this was a shock. One of the crab's legs was already heading towards the road. But the guy started seriously lowering the price. In the end, I got 3 crabs and 2 extra large saffron cod for a total of ●● yen!! This is the first time I've encountered such a fair shop in Hokkaido! Honestly, they went above and beyond my expectations of haggling in Tsuruga, and really put in effort to make a deal. I was super nervous until the 500g crabs arrived, but they all weighed over 600g! Unfortunately, the delicate crabs didn't survive, but the miso was plentiful, and freshly boiled at home was amazing. What an amazing shop. Their shipping fees may be higher than other stores, but they make up for it with great discounts. I'll definitely order from them online next time.

This is a souvenir from Aikata-chan in Hokkaido♪ It arrived the day after she sent it✨ Three hairy crabs and peeled raw snow crab legs. Aikata-chan is back so we enjoyed them together. The peeled snow crab legs are perfect for "Kanisuki" (crab hot pot) because they are already peeled and easy to eat without needing a crab fork. The meat is plump and satisfying to eat! The three of us devoured it all (*´ω`*) The next day, we made porridge with the crab broth, which was delicious♡ The hairy crabs were thawed in the refrigerator overnight and cut before eating for convenience. I was so focused on eating that I forgot to drink, haha, a common crab-eating experience. Personally, I think the snow crab was more delicious. Thank you for the meal!