Cherry Picking in Japan’s Southern Alps

Staff Journal

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Yamanashi is known as being Japan’s “Wine Country” and “Fruit Kingdom.” For those who want a bite of some of the freshest, juiciest, and most delicious fruits—be sure to stop by our prefecture during the harvest season of your favorite fruit. Our most popular fruits are peaches, grapes, and plums, but we also have delicious strawberries, cherries, blueberries, apples, and persimmons as well.

In the Southern Alps, we visited Kanemaru Farms, a small cherry-picking farm, run by Ms. Kanemaru. Cherry-picking season in Yamanashi generally lasts from mid-May until early July, so our mid-June visit was perfect timing to enjoy these juicy, bright red cherries.

During our visit, we had the great chance to meet Yamanashi’s famously adorable mascot character, Hishimaru-kun. This cute mascot is cartoon version of Yamanashi’s native dog, the kai-ken, who wears the helmet of the local samurai warlord and hero, Takeda Shingen. After being welcomed by this mighty yet adorable mascot, we sanitized our hands, grabbed a basket, and began to pick. Ms. Kanemaru told us to choose the ones that were bright red, and to pull them by the stem in the direction from which the stem grew. The cherries had a sweet and less tangy flavor than the ones I was used to eating back in the US.

This year, due to the effects of the COVID-19, the amount of cherry-picking customers is a mere fraction of what it was before—prompting Ms. Kanemaru shift her focus from taking in fruit-picking customers to picking the cherries herself and selling them at local supermarkets.

One of the best parts of this cherry farm is that there’s no time limit. You are allowed to pick and eat as much as you want—for as long as you want. If you are up for the challenge, you can climb up a ladder to get the precious jewels that hide in the higher branches.

The farm has sanitation measures (all guests must sanitize their hands at the door) and it is in an open-air space—making guests feel at ease. Plus, there is just something utterly satisfying about being able to pick your fruit with your own hands. Perhaps it comes from our primal instincts, tracing back to our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

If you’d rather just buy the fruit directly, this is possible as well. That being said, I highly recommend picking it on your own. It’s quite simple, super fun, and absolutely delicious! Taste these little red jewels from Japan’s Fruit Kingdom, by going fruit-picking in Yamanashi today!