The seaside shopping mall neighboring Karato Market

Shimonoseki City in Yamaguchi has long been a town of fisheries.
“Kamon Wharf,” located in Shimonoseki, is a 3-story shopping mall which has about 30 shops, including restaurants and souvenir shops.
Shimonoseki Municipal Aquarium (“Kaikyo-kan”), and some other tourist spots are near the mall, so it is good place for sightseeing and wandering around while leaving your car parked here.

One soft ice cream flavor is very popular and also Instagrammable!

Many people take a walk and enjoy the view of Kanmon-kaikyo Strait on the boardwalk behind the mall.
And most people hold soft ice cream in their hands while taking pictures of it.
There are 7 shops offering soft ice cream, and each shop has its own unique menu.
The one I chose is “Pon-Pon Soft,” a soft ice cream with a puffed rice topping from “LA Café.”
There are many flavors of ice cream to choose from, and mine is a combination of vanilla and “sea” (actually, it is a soda flavor with blue coloring).

Also, you can find Italian gelato at the gelateria “Bambini,” made with gelato machines from Bologna in Italy.
There are 16 kinds of gelato lined up, and you can choose 2 (450 yen) or 3 (500 yen) kinds of ice cream from the showcase.

Seafood delivered directly from the market is turned into Kaisen-don (a bowl of rice topped with seafood)

There are many restaurants offering fresh seafood.
After all, you know that this shopping mall is next to the market, right?
The superb entrée at of one restaurants, “Ichiba-no-yoko” (Next to the Market), is “Otokogi Kaisen-don Mega Max” (Dauntlessness Kaisen-don Mega Max, 2,880 yen)!
You will be surprised at the volume and variety of the seafood on top of the rice.

Also, you are sure to be satisfied with the “Kaisen DX set” (Seafood Deluxe set, 1,850 yen) at “Kihei-tai.”
There are many other restaurants and even more entrées, and some of the restaurants have tables with a view of the strait, so you have a lot of choices!

You can also find various souvenirs from Shimonoseki!

You will find various souvenir shops which sell specialties from Shimonoseki and Yamaguchi, limited items from the local area, and so on.

“Fuku-no-Sato” is a souvenir shop selling products of Shimonoseki and fuku (usually puffer fish is called “fugu” in Japanese, but it is called “fuku” in the Shimonoseki area).
The recommendation here is “Fukukko set of 10 pieces,” (650 yen), which is chikuwa (tube-shaped fish paste cake) with puffer fish soup.
The springy and resilient texture of chikuwa is tasty and goes well with beer.

There are several spots for taking memorable pictures.

There is a main stage on the boardwalk on seaside, and events are held here on a regular basis.
You can find many colorful puffer fish lanterns called “Fuku Chochin,” and a monument to puffer fish (of 3 different sizes), which makes this a very popular photo spot.

This boardwalk turns into a very photogenic spot after the sunset.
You can see the aquarium, the Ferris wheel at “Haikara’t Yokocho” (an amusement park), and “Kaikyo Yume Tower;” all illuminated in the background of the boardwalk and fuku monuments.
So, you do not have to worry about when you visit – any time is enjoyable at Kamon Wharf! .

Visitors from foreign countries will be happy to know that free Wi-Fi is available inside of the mall, and signs or explanations in foreign languages can be found in the toilets and the ATMs.

Eat, shop, and take pictures – and make your trip to Shimonoseki more memorable!

Photographs and text by Yuka Hesaka