Rice dishes ── Donburi (rice bowls)
Katte-don
build-your-own seafood rice bowl
Rice bought first, then topped with sashimi hand-picked stall by stall around the market. Said to have originated at Kushiro's Washo Market, a way of eating rooted in sitting close to where the fish is landed.
- Origin: Hokkaido Kushiro
- About 900 km northeast of Tokyo
What it's made of
Seafood chosen stall by stall across the market comes together in a single bowl. Because what goes in depends entirely on who's choosing — heavy on sea urchin one time, built around salmon roe the next — the look and the center of gravity of the flavor shift bowl to bowl, which is much of the fun.
How it's made
A diner first buys just the rice, then walks the market's fish stalls picking out whichever sashimi or seafood catches the eye, having each vendor slice it to order before setting it on their own rice. The ordering process itself — piece by piece, stall by stall — differs from a pre-assembled seafood bowl.
Why it took this shape
At Kushiro's Washo Market in Hokkaido, this way of eating is said to have taken root because the market sits close to where the fish is landed, letting shoppers pick straight from the case. The name 'katte-don' is a registered trademark held by a market vendor, treated not as a mere variant of kaisendon but as a way of eating the market itself defined and promoted.
Before you go
- How to use a convenience storeA quick guide to choosing rice balls and hot snacks, buying coffee, paying by cash, IC card, or tap payment, using the eat-in corner, and sorting your trash — the basics for a first visit.
- Station food and ekiben (station bento)Where and when to find ekiben (station bento) before it sells out, etiquette for eating on board, how standing soba and udon stalls work, and where to find souvenirs sold inside the station.
- Roadside stations, direct-sale stands, and marketsHow to enjoy buying food near where it's produced, visiting and shopping at morning markets and fish markets, what to expect at farm stands, and finding local food at roadside stations (michi-no-eki).
Dishes in the same style
- Aburafu DonDeep-fried wheat gluten, shaped into a log, is simmered in a sweet-savory broth and set with egg over rice, katsudon-style — a Tome City bowl said to trace to a tofu shop's shelf-stable gluten product, later turned into a bowl dish by a local innkeeper.
- Aizu Sōsu KatsudonAizu's sauce katsudon, doused in a thick sweet-savory sauce. Its origin has several competing accounts, none settled, but all point to it being refined through everyday improvisation on Taisho-era Western food.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Hokkaido
- Asahikawa RamenSoy-sauce broth built on seafood and pork bones, topped with lard so it stays hot. A response to the region's severe winters.
- Asahikawa HorumenA local dish that crosses Asahikawa's two soul foods — soy-sauce ramen and grilled pork offal. Pork offal, cleaned and prepped to remove its odor, sits on a soy-based broth. It was devised in Asahikawa in the 2010s.
- Gatatan RamenAshibetsu's local dish gatatan, turned into ramen: a salt broth thickened with potato starch, loaded with vegetables, meat and seafood, and finished with a stream of beaten egg.
- Bibai no TorimeshiChicken and onion are cooked into rice with soy sauce, sugar, and sake — said to trace back to a Meiji-era landowner in Bibai's Nakamura district who had tenant farmers raise chickens, then served them to guests.
- Bibai YakitoriOne skewer carries the whole bird — offal, skin and all.
- Biratori WagyuJapanese Black raised in Biratori, Hidaka, founded on breeding cattle brought from Shimane in 1962 — finished slowly through harsh winters, said to give the meat a notably deep flavor.