This Is Japan
Explore everyday life in Japan
Living within reach of the countryside in Japan means you have access to all kinds of fruit picking throughout the year: strawberry picking, cherry picking, peach picking, pear picking, persimmon picking, grape picking, and much more, depending, of course, on the region you are in.
In Japanese, the word kari (狩り), often pronounced gari, is paired with the names of fruit to equal what is called fruit picking in English. Kari, however, is a word that means to hunt, which turns fruit picking in Japan into fruit hunting. The idea of hunting for fruit is something that I particularly like. When I think of hunting for strawberries or, in this case, hunting for cherries, it makes my imagination run a little wild.
Often, the fruit farms in Japan that open their doors to the general public are nothing more than a few greenhouses full of fruit trees, vines, or planters. Sometimes, within these greenhouses, there are sitting areas cheaply made of framed 2 x 4 platforms and plywood where you can sit down, relax, and picnic with your family or order meat and vegetables to barbecue over a charcoal grill.
Other times, they offer slightly more comfortable sitting areas that have plastic tables and chairs set up near stands selling homemade gelato and other farm wares such as preserves, etc.
Occasionally, you will find farms that don't have a place for you to sit. They merely open their doors and welcome you to either eat as much fruit as you can pick on the spot, or welcome you to pick as much fruit as you would like to take home and then sell it to you by the gram. Of course, if you opt for option two, you can still pick fruit and sneak some samples into your mouth, but by and large the general expectation that you won't sample the wares if you haven't chosen the all you can pick and eat course is followed, as are most rules and societal expectations in Japan.
This year, I tried cherry picking for the first time In my life. Since the cherries looked so incredibly good, I opted for the all you can pick and eat option. Being that this option was a little expensive, 1800 yen (about $17 USD), I made sure to eat my money's worth. (There were a hundred cherry pits in my cup when I finished.)
As I'm sure you can imagine, this didn't agree with me very well later on in the day. At the time, though, with the cherries being as good as they were, I felt like I was really getting a great deal. And my children also had a great time filling my face with cherries.
This is an ongoing series that will explore various aspects of daily life in Japan. My hope is that this series will not only reveal to its followers, image by image, what Japan looks like, but that it will also inform its followers about unique Japanese items and various cultural and societal practices. If you are interested in getting regular updates about life in Japan, please consider following me at @boxcarblue. If you have any questions about life in Japan, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will do my best to answer all of your questions.
Those cherries are so different from ours here in Portugal. Today I bought some in the market, these are exceptionally darker, but sweet.
Wow! Those are the darkest cherries I've ever seen.
They are pretty dark indeed, we must be careful when eating it because they taint everything!
Cherry juice doesn't come out of fabric, does it? I forgot how badly they stain things. With kids around, that must be tough.
I don't have kids around yet, but I can mess and taint things like a bunch of kids would do!! ;)
😊
Omg I love cherries and Japan. I have upvoted and followed you. Looking forward to reading more posts about the daily life in Japan. :)
Thanks! I'm glad to hear it.
I've been to Japan thrice. Mind to check out my post - Walking Tour in Tokyo's Cat Town? I'd love to hear your comment :)
Will do.
The cherries sound delicious. I'm not a big fruit eater myself.
I think you'd find yourself able to eat a few of these. They were that good!
great japan, i'll go japan in 2018
Excellent. What for?
I enjoyed reading this @boxcarblue. I especially loved the pictures of those delicious looking cherries. I will follow you for more :)
I'm glad to hear it! Thank you!
Are you not afraid of the lion in the cherry garden? LOL
It fits with the hunting theme, doesn't it? Those are commonly used as scarecrows near where I live.
It looks like he's saying, I just ate a hundred f%^# cherries!*
hahaha
lol. I think they both ate 100 cherries and are sharing a Japanese toilet stall.
Seeing the two of them try to fit in a Japanese toilet stall would be hilarious. That should be a thing, like the clown car at the circus.
hahaha! I bet that isn't a far fetched idea to a Japanese tv show producer. I have seen some of those crazy prank tv shows.
That's true. I'm sure it's already been done.
@boxcarblue those cherries look incredible. I love their bright red colour. Thanks for sharing
They were very good! The best I've ever had. An old manager of mine recommended this place as a well kept local secret and it lived up to her description.
They look like they are very good quality! Thanks for replying :)
It takes me time, but I always try to reply. I appreciate the comments.
Well i certainly appreciate the effort you put in :) Thank you
I'm glad to hear it;)
Very cool. I cannot wait to grow my own. Thanks for sharing!
I was told that these cherries are very susceptible to frost, that's why the orchard is housed in plastic sheets. It also makes use of a heating unit to keep the temperature when necessary and fans, which I think are used to keep the moisture levels down, but I didn't fully understand this part of the explanation. Frost might be something you'll have to contend with.
amazing