Won't Miss #18 - high price of fresh fruit (reflection)

One of the things I've had the luxury of doing since returning to the U.S. is consuming a steady diet of strawberries, grapes, pineapple, and clementines. I can buy them in copious amounts at Costco for reasonable or cheap prices (depending on the season). What is more, I actually own a refrigerator which is big enough to accommodate the large volume containers.

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.

Will Miss #463 - paying to pick fruit

A fairly typical in-season price for berries is 350-500 yen ($4.36-$6.24). Why pay less and get them the easy way?

When I was a child, I used to go strawberry picking with my grandmother. The purpose of this was to make a little extra cash because we were paid 25 cents a pint to pick them. It was hot, back-breaking work, but we did it for several summers because it was one of the few ways for a kid under 15 to make a little money. In Japan, my students told me that they sometimes went to farms to pick cherries, strawberries, etc. I asked them why they did this when they had jobs and they said because they were allowed to eat as much as they wanted when they did this. They generally paid between 2000-3000 yen ($25-$37) for the opportunity to do no more than pick their own fruit and consume it on site. They were not allowed to take any fruit home, but essentially were engaged in an all-you-can-eat single fruit buffet for a price that far exceeded buying that same amount of fruit at a fruit stand.

In the U.S., people sometimes pick their own fruit to get a reduced price on what they take home or to ensure that they have the freshest fruit, but they'd never pay a lot more to just stand around in a grove and eat fruit. It always amused me when students told me they paid someone else to have a chance to do what I was once paid to do.

Will Miss #240 - dekopon

Before coming to Japan, I was not a fan of fresh oranges, though I did like orange-flavored foods. Most of them didn't seem to have much taste, and I didn't like the texture. Since coming to Japan, I've found that there are some much more flavorful options on the orange front. One of those options is dekopon (marketed as "sumo citrus" in the U.S.), a variety of orange with a protruding navel that is aged to develop the sugars. It's more intensely flavorful and sweeter than common Western varieties such as navel oranges.

I'll miss easy access to dekopon.

Won't Miss #168 - a lack of seedless grapes

Japan is a country that has growers making square watermelons because the natural shape isn't convenient enough, yet they do not seem to have embraced seedless grapes. I'm not a big baby about preparing fruit when it comes to seed removal and peeling, but grapes with seeds are a huge pain because you're constantly spitting out little nasty seed parts and they're gross if you accidentally bite into one. Also, I like good, firm, not so sweet green grapes, but the only place I can get them are as imports at Costco (which is too far away to frequent). I don't understand why the shops rarely carry seedless grapes, and never carry the green ones when they carry other produce imports from all over the world.

I won't miss having to spit out seeds every time I indulge in expensive Japanese grapes.

Will Miss #123 - free persimmons

Several times each winter, a student will show up at my door with a shopping bag. The bag is often full of persimmons which are being offered to me from their overflowing supply. People in Tokyo receive persimmons by the crate-load from relatives and friends all over Japan and they pass them on to me. The odd thing is that they are sent this fruit despite the fact that they grow all over the place in Tokyo as well.

You can buy persimmons most anywhere in the world these days, but someone, or everyone, will often give you free ones. I'll miss the free, fresh persimmons.

Will Miss #47 - tiny watermelons

Though I'm not happy about the price of fruit in Japan, I am happy with the fact that you can buy relatively small watermelons. My husband doesn't like them and we have no one to parcel the fruit out to. Small melons take me 4-6 days to eat by myself, so I'm pretty happy to get one.

I'll miss being able to buy watermelon for one.

Will Miss #37 - Japanese peaches

Back in the U.S., I wasn't a fan of peaches. There was something about the flavor that just didn't do it for me, but I love Japanese peaches. The skins pull off easily and their flavor is mellow. They're a bit expensive, but I buy them as often as possible when they're priced relatively reasonably.

I'll miss these yummy peaches.

Won't Miss #18 - high price of fresh fruit

Japan is well-known for its monstrously over-priced gift-wrapped fruit, but even pedestrian offerings are pretty expensive. You're getting off about as cheap as possible if you can find 6 bananas for 100 yen in Tokyo. Apples are "cheap" if they can be had for 100 yen apiece. Forget about ever "wasting" your fresh fruit on such luxuries as baking a pie. It's just not worth the cost or sacrifice. Eating healthy really does cost more in Tokyo if you want fresh fruit to be a part of your regular diet.

I'm not going to miss feeling like fruit is a luxury due to its relatively high cost.