What is that you say about not being able to eat enormous amounts of fruit before it goes bad? Well, here is the thing, the fruit I get in California is significantly longer-lived than that I bought in Tokyo. It clearly is fresher and hasn't been sitting around aging such that it wilts fast. The combination of fresher fruit that can be refrigerated means that I have ample time in most cases to eat it all before it spoils.
I don't miss the high prices on fresh fruit or the fact that it wasn't incredibly fresh.
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The availability of fresh produce is what has kept me living in the Central Coast and will continue to keep me here. Though I don't shop Costco, I never have a hard time finding good, fresh and usually locally grown produce.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen expensive fruits when I was in Japan. I'm interested to see it. Where can I find it? :)
ReplyDeleteUsually, the fruit shops near the stations are pretty expensive, especially those sold in boxes. For the most expensive, one need only check out the basement levels of department stores that sell food. In general, even in normal shopping areas (not department stores), fruit is about 50% more expensive in Japan (if not more) than the U.S.
DeleteIf you just imagine buying one apple for 200 yen, and the fact that a person may reasonably want to buy an apple a day to eat, you can see it adds up if you regularly eat fruit.
The bananas were generally pretty reasonable... the quality was not great, but they were cheap. ;-)
ReplyDeleteDid you find that the expensive fruit was generally of exceptional quality? I only had occasion to buy "expensive" fruit in Japan a few times, but it was AMAZINGLY flavorful compared to what you normally find in the US.
ReplyDeleteI never bought the really expensive stuff in Japan, but I do believe that fruit in general that was grown in Japan was sweeter and more flavorful than that in America. That is not to say all of it was better, but some was (especially the citrus). In general, I tended to be disappointed in the strawberries and the bananas were terrible (but they were not indigenous). The watermelon, and I mean the 500 yen for a tiny melon one, not the 15,000 yen for a gift-wrapped one, were very scattershot. I often had to salt them to extract any flavor from the experience.
DeleteI think part of how it compares depends on where in the U.S. you live. Since I'm currently in California, where a lot of fruit is grown, I'm finding there is better quality here than I had back in the Northeast. I think people are fussier in areas in which produce is plentiful relative to areas in which it is scarce so there has to be better quality fruit or vegetables on offer.
There is a huge variability in fruit and vegetables in my experience so it's hard to say one is clearly superior. Generally, I found the dekopon and mikan to be consistently great whereas I find that citrus here is more unpredictable. There, I found the berries and melons worse on the whole, especially in terms of texture. Here, I find both the texture and flavor trend better.
Which very expensive fruit did you buy and what did you pay?
I read a lot that produce is expensive in Japan. Is the locally grown produce more reasonably priced, or is everything pretty expensive?
ReplyDeleteQuite a few people have mentioned that produce in Japan is expensive. Is it just the imported produce that is overpriced, or are locally grown products expensive as well?
ReplyDeleteSince I lived in Tokyo, and didn't travel much to any farming areas, I can't speak for the prices of locally grown produce. I can say that Japan doesn't grow much of its own food anymore and most imports were cheaper than domestic food. This would indicate that anything grown in Japan would be relatively expensive if things shipped from China, Australia, and Taiwan were noticeably cheaper. However, that's just a guess!
DeleteThanks for your comment!