Japan is full of specialities and products, each more extraordinary than the last. But if you want to enjoy the freshness of a piece of fruit, you may be somewhat surprised.
Over €10 a kilo for oranges, almost €25 a kilo for strawberries... Impressive, isn't it? We'll explain right away why fruits are so expensive in Japan.
A particular fruit culture
While in France it's not uncommon to enjoy a piece of fruit as a snack or to end a meal on a sweet note, in Japan fruits don't enjoy this status. You'll never see a Japanese person bite into an apple or peel an orange in a public place (street, public transport...).
Fruits indeed don't have a central place in Japanese people's diet. They favour vegetables as their source of plant foods. The French are said to eat 20 kilos more fruit than the Japanese per year.
In Japan, fruit is more seen as a "social object". It's not uncommon, for example, to give fruit when invited to dinner — just like our bouquets, bottles of wine or boxes of chocolate. Depending on the fruit you decide to bring, you can even reveal more about your socio-professional category. The ultimate? The melon, one of the most expensive fruits in the archipelago and therefore very representative of your standard of living.
Given the status attributed to it, you can perfectly imagine that fruit isn't eaten in a rush. There's indeed something of a ceremony around eating it. It's cut up with care before being presented and savoured. Eating a piece of fruit isn't an everyday thing, so you may as well do it properly.
Made in Japan, first!
For multiple reasons, importing such types of products isn't necessarily easy or appreciated in Japan.
First of all, quality and safety standards are very strict for food products entering the country. The authorities notably check the way the fruits were grown but also, and above all, the pesticides used on the trees. There's no question of offering fruits whose growth has been boosted by a cocktail of chemical substances.
Worse — and this is where the situation becomes amusing — only aesthetically beautiful fruits are accepted for sale. You won't find punnets with strawberries of different sizes, apples marked by the sun and the weather, slightly blackened pears or poorly curved bananas. All this may make you smile, of course, but you'll quickly notice it when you go to the convenience stores. The fruits there are moreover often over-packaged to protect them or show them off.
Also, note that the Japanese will always choose foods grown and produced in the country. There's a certain distrust of what's imported, and the Japanese like the idea that each thing should be eaten in its region of origin. Not easy when you know that the country isn't among the major fruit growers, as its close neighbours China and the Philippines can be.
In Japan, land is relatively scarce and labour is costly. So there are few producers in the country, hence few fruits, and prices reflect this.
As you'll have understood, if you're a fruit lover, you'll probably be somewhat frustrated during your trip to Japan. Or else, prepare to set aside a whole budget for that pleasure.
