Cherries
Cherries are beautiful fruits that represent early summer in Japan. During the season cherries are displayed at the storefront of fruit shops and supermarkets, many people are attracted by the shining red color and cute figure.
The price of cherries is decided by the size and quality and average ones sell for about 2000 yen per 500g pack. However, some large and high quality cherries are very expensive. Some prestigious fruit shops sell the cherries with the price tag of more than 10000 yen per pack. About 80 cherries are placed in one pack so one cherry costs more than 100 yen. Because of such a high price, cherries are sometimes called “red diamonds”.
Cherries have many species. The most popular one is sato-nishiki, which was made more than 80 years ago during the Taisho period. This species has a good balance of sweetness, sourness and is very juicy. Other than sato-nishiki, benishuho, taisho-nishiki, and benisayaka are popular varieties.
About three quarters of cherries in Japan are produced in Yamagata Prefecture, in the northern part of Japan. There are many cherry orchards there and visitors from all over Japan enjoy cherry picking, eat fresh cherries and appreciate the beautiful contrast of the colors of red cherries and green leaves.
Yamagata is not so far away from Tokyo. When you ride on the Yamagata Shinkansen Line from Tokyo, you will reach Yamagata Station in less than 3 hours or you can fly from Haneda Airport in Tokyo to Yamagata Airport in about 1 hour, making it a nice day trip.
