Enjoy Fresh Fruit with Fruit Picking Activities in Japan
Top left: Lots of people in Japan go strawberry picking in the spring. Top right: Peach picking is fun in the summer. Bottom left: One popular fall activity is to go picking Japanese pears. Bottom right: You can pick mikan oranges (satsuma oranges) in the winter, too.
Japan has a culture of enjoying the four seasons through many kinds of fruits that grow all across the country. Fruit picking events let people cut or pull seasonal fruit themselves straight from the branches, and then enjoy eating these really fresh fruit. Many kids love going to these activities. Let's take a look at the different kinds of fun fruit picking activities in Japan.
Fruit Picking in Japan Lets You Enjoy the Four Seasons
Left: Cherries are the most popular choice in the spring at a tourist farm in Gunma. Center: You can pick blueberries in the summer. Right: Grapes are one type of fun fruit to pick in the fall. (Photos courtesy of Minakami Fruits Land Mogitore)
Many people enjoy picking apples in the winter.
Don't you just love eating sweet and juicy fruits? In Japan, it is a popular activity for children and families to have fun picking fruits in all the four seasons. These fruits are nurtured by the climate and natural environment all across Japan. You can enjoy harvesting many kinds of fruits in each season. For example, you can pick strawberries and cherries in the spring, blueberries and peaches in the summer, grapes and Japanese pears in the fall, and mikan oranges (satsuma oranges) and apples in the winter. The dates for fruit picking activities in Japan are different between each farm, but the fruits are produced in many places across the country.
| Type of fruit to pick | Period | Major locations | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strawberries |
 |
Around December to May | Tochigi, Fukuoka, Kumamoto |
| Cherries |  |
Around May to July | Yamagata, Yamanashi, Hokkaido |
| Blueberries |  |
Around June to August | Tokyo, Ibaraki, Nagano |
| Peaches |  |
Around June to August | Yamanashi, Fukushima, Nagano |
| Grapes |  |
Around June to October | Yamanashi, Nagano, Yamagata, Akita, Okayama |
| Japanese pears |  |
Around July to November | Chiba, Ibaraki, Tochigi |
| Apples |  |
Around August to December | Aomori, Nagano, Iwate |
| Mikan oranges |  |
Around October to January | Wakayama, Ehime, Shizuoka |
How to Have Fun Fruit Picking in Japan
One tourist farm in Minakami Town, Gunma Prefecture holds fruit picking events across a 16-acre plot of land. Many people come here in group tours. Here, people are having fun picking and eating grapes grown in the highlands. The farm also sells popular seasonal cakes and gelato ice cream made with freshly picked fruits. (Photos courtesy of Minakami Fruits Land Mogitore)
Fruit picking activities are carried out in tourist farms and other locations across Japan. The activities come in many different styles. For example, there are "all-you-can-eat" options that let you pick fresh fruit and eat them on the spot until you are full, options that let you harvest and try a fixed quantity of fruit, and options that serve you delicious seasonal sweets. One tourist farm in Gunma Prefecture lets visitors pick many different kinds of fruits in each season. During school break, you might see grandparents, parents, and kids picking fruits all together as a family, or other people having fun with their pets outside as they pick the fruit. This area is also famous for its hot springs, so there is a popular option to buy tickets to go fruit picking and also visit a local hot spring facility together as a set.
You Can Do Cooking with Your Freshly Picked Fruits, Too
One family having fun picking Japanese plums, and jam made by taking away the sour taste these plums have when eaten raw. (Photos courtesy of Fuefukigawa Fruit Park YAMANASHI)
Visitors taking on a challenge to cook with freshly picked peaches. (Photos courtesy of Fuefukigawa Fruit Park YAMANASHI)
The fun of fruit picking does not end with the harvesting. Some places have hands-on cooking workshops and events where you use freshly picked fruit. Yamanashi Prefecture has always been a famous place for fruit produce. One facility here holds hands-on events that let you pick seasonal fruit and also make processed foods. In these events, a staff member from a local jam store and a staff member from Yamanashi City who works to improve and maintain people's eating habits team up as lecturers to teach participants the key points about how to eat the fruit in delicious ways, such as by making jam or juice. In one activity for making curry with peaches, you add peach pulp with other ingredients to create a dish with rich flavor. You can also learn about how fruits have lots of vitamins and other nutrients. Today, you can go to the store and buy many kinds of fruit. However, this facility wants people to experience the freshness that you can only get by actually harvesting fruit in their regular season yourself, and by getting more familiar with the fruit before you eat them.
Facilities with Play Areas
Left: An outdoor obstacle course lets you have fun while getting good exercise. You can play in the water in the summer, too. Right: This play area is covered by a dome that lets you have fun in any weather. (Photos courtesy of Fuefukigawa Fruit Park YAMANASHI)
Some fruit picking facilities also have attractions and other areas for kids to enjoy. You can have fun all day eating tasty fruits and playing. The staff members at these fun-packed facilities want visitors to let their curiosity run free in lush nature as they enjoy fruit picking and playing at the facilities.
Consideration for Safety, Security, and Comfort
A tourist farm in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture. A child is having fun harvesting grapes that were grown with soil that does not contain any chemical fertilizers. (Photos courtesy of Chichibu Fruit Farm)
Farms in Japan work hard so that kids can have fun safely. For example, they explain to kids in an easy-to-understand way about how to use scissors when harvesting fruit, and they keep watch over the kids together with their parents and guardians. One farm in Saitama Prefecture puts extra care into everything, right down to preparing the soil. This farm puts paper on each bunch of grapes to protect them and help stop them from changing color. All the staff members take special care of the fruits so that they will be safe to eat and have a delicious taste.
A hygienic greenhouse for strawberry picking. It is accessible to people with wheelchairs and prams. (Photos courtesy of Minakami Fruits Land Mogitore)
In general, fruit picking farms in Japan are cleaned well with attention paid to hygiene, so that everyone can enjoy them comfortably. If you come to Japan and try fruit picking, you are sure to have a fantastic experience whatever the season!