The morning market in Wajima stretches along Asaichi-dori street in the heart of town, opening around 8am and winding down by noon. Stalls run by local women sell dried seafood, pickles, vegetables, and lacquerware alongside the kinds of practical goods — miso, tofu, fresh fish — that still feed the town. It is genuinely functional rather than performed for tourists, though visitors are warmly received.
The lacquerware sold here is the real thing. Wajima-nuri, the town's famous lacquer tradition, involves dozens of separate layers of urushi resin applied over years; a single bowl may take more than a hundred steps to complete. You can buy directly from the craftspeople who made it, and the quality difference from mass-produced pieces is immediately apparent.