Street photography in Sendai: the Sendai Asaichi market

アウトフォーカス Sendai Asaichi market / 仙台朝市

Street photography in Sendai Part 1, the Asaichi Market Japan is a great location for street photography, especially if you can get yourself out of Shinjuku or the other touristy locations of Japan. I like to go north of Tokyo and explore the Aomori and Iwate prefectures for their outstanding onsen and scenery and typically take a stop at Sendai.

I have a couple of favourite locations in Sendai that I like to visit every time I visit and build up a sort of catalogue of of photos of these places over the

different years and periods of the year that you visit. One of these locations in Sendai is the Asaichi Market, located at a 5 minutes’ walk from the West Exit of the Sendai JR station in the small streets behind the PARCO 2 department store.

The Asaichi Market has become a Sendai attraction by itself. It is a small market but it has just that cramped, intimate feel to it that I prefer for street photography. It is a morning market, but runs well into the afternoon with lots of people shopping for fresh fish, fruits and vegetables and the likes. It

is also home to a fair number of yatai food stalls for those delicious snacks.

Visiting Sendai

One time I visited in the early evening just before the New Year and the market was packed with shoppers looking for the freshest ingredients for their Osechi-ryōri, the traditional food prepared for the Japanese New Year celebrations.

On other occasions, it is much quieter and easy to appraise the wares and have a chat with the stallholders.

I usually buy a lot of dried tofu and fish snacks to bring back home or to enjoy at the hotel. Wish I could live in Sendai and do my daily shopping at the Asaichi Market!

Sendai is becoming a more and more important tourist destination as it is the gateway to touristy Matsushima. But also in itself, it has plenty of reasons for a tourist stop-over. Apart from the normal tourist sights, Sendai is also known for its food, I love the gyu-tan and the zunda-mochi! It is also home to one of the most famous festivals of Tōhoku, the Tanabata Matsuri.

The location of the market is sort of by chance: During the last few weeks of World War II, Sendai was heavily bombed destroying about 22% of the city leaving large open areas. Soon a market was created in one of these areas around the Sendai train station which was later to become the Asaichi Market. The market is also known as Sendai’s Kitchen and draws visitors from far.

the other area with lots of bars and restaurants, Inari Kōji. (稲荷小路).

As for street photography in Sendai, the areas I like to hang out in are the Asaichi Market, the maze of bars and restaurants known as Ichi Ni San Yokochō (壱弐参横丁), Clis Road and

These will be covered in a next edition of Soft Focus.

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