Walk into any supermarket, fruit shop or market place, and you will see beautiful Japanese vegetables and fruits everywhere.
They are fresh, brightly coloured, firm, well-shaped, and flavourful – in short, they are perfect.
Not Noticing the perfection
Like most people, I grew up eating what my family prepared for me. This of course included fruits and vegetables. But I never learned to love them, and really only ate them because I had to.
I guess somewhere between my teenage years and becoming a young adult, I realized that I had to at least eat them from time to time!
This almost meant that I never really learned to love them and would never give them a second look. 🙃
The realization
Then, a conversation about “beautiful Japanese vegetables” with a non-Japanese coworker one day happened.
She was talking about how all the vegetables in her supermarket looked perfect, and how all the fruits almost looked fake.
“Why are all the leaves so green and perfect?” and “They are all shaped so perfectly, I’m scared to eat them.”, she said. “Maybe they use an insane amount of pesticide!” and “How can every single one of them be perfect?!” I remember her gesticulating wildly. Her eyes were as big as saucers.
For someone like me who didn’t even bother to glance in the direction of the vegetable aisle, this was a realization.
She was right – they were perfect!
Gift-giving culture
I have a strong suspicion that one of the reasons why there are so many beautiful fruits and vegetables is because of the culture here.
Japan has a strong gift-giving culture and there are so many different names for the gifts and events where they are given or presented to others!
I mean just look at this list (non-exhaustive):
- Birthday
- Christmas
- Omiyage (お土産) – Travel Souvenirs
- Temiyage (手土産) – Hand carried Travel Souvenirs
- Ochugen (御中元) – Middle of the year gift (to maintain connections)
- Oseibo (御歳暮) – End of the year gift (to maintain connections)
- Reikin (礼金) – Key money
- Otoshidama (お年玉) – New Year’s gift money for kids
- Okaeshi (お返し) – Thank you (return)
- Goshugi (ご祝儀) – Wedding gift money
- Kouden (香典) – Funeral condolence money
- Valentine’s day – Women give men chocolates as gifts
- White day – Men thank the women for the Valentine’s day chocolates with gifts
- Sharei (謝礼) – Apology gift/money
- Omimaihin (お見舞い品) – Gift given when visiting an ill person
And these are just the ones at the top of my head. There are so many more not mentioned here.
What to give
With so many days, events, and celebrations, comes a whole set of rules on what we can and cannot give.
To give a wedding gift that isn’t a Goshugibukuro (envelope) with money inside is considered a faux pas, and giving someone in hospital a potted plant is a huge no no. Why no potted plant? Because potted plants have roots, and it’s kind of like wishing, or should I say cursing the person to ‘grow roots’ there and stay in hospital longer.
Smart solution
I think the Japanese have come up with smart ways of dealing with the stress of choosing gifts – they have specific gifts that go with specific times of the year and events.
Give chocolates on Valentine’s day if you are female, and give children Otoshidama on New Year’s day. Give your business contact a box expensive cookies or canned drinks for Ochugen in Summer, and give your colleagues a packet of delicious Omiyage when you come back from a trip. See! No Less stress!
How gifts should look
Beauty and aesthetics are highly valued here in Japan. I mean, this is the land of hand sewn Kimonos, delicately and precisely crafted Edokiriko glassware, and Kaiseki ryouri made with hand picked seasonal food, right?
So individually packed Omiyage treats, cans all lined up perfectly in a box with the labels all facing the front, department store staff that can wrap your Xmas gift for you using just one sheet of wrapping paper and make it look amazing, and perfect fruits wrapped perfectly, is what is expected.
I don’t think I’ve ever used the word ‘perfect’ so many times in my life! 🙂
Beautiful Japanese Vegetables and Fruits
The perfect gift
And since the locals in Japan absolutely adore their seasons, fruits, which are seasonal, allow people to see, taste and smell these perfect gifts!
Different parts of Japan are famous for different fruits and produce, so giving someone from Tokyo big and juicy apples from Aomori, or exquisite tasting grapes from Nagano are sure to be a big hit!
Even better, these beautiful gifts will be eaten, so will not take up any space in their houses.
It is easy to understand why it is seen as the perfect gift.
Supermarkets
I guess, because people value these perfect fruits, this has somehow influenced the standards of what is acceptable in the supermarkets too.
As a result, blemishes on fruits, and partially nibbled leaves on vegetables are not commonly seen in the local Japanese supermarkets.
The supermarket managers and top executives know that the customers expect a certain standard and quality in their fruits and vegetables, so this has in made them more selective as well.
The farmers also know that only the best looking and most delicious fruits and vegetables can be sold to the supermarkets, so they too strive to increase the percentage of perfect looking produce.
Of course, this is also one of the reasons why they are more expensive than the imported ones. (there are many more reasons)
Enjoying Beautiful Japanese Vegetables and Fruits
So whether you choose to go to your local supermarket, a farmer’s market (yes, they have them in the major cities too), order them online, or go fruit picking, I recommend trying them, because they not only look wonderful, they also taste great!
Star
Related posts: