Strawberries are not particularly Japanese – so why am I including them in my Friday food treat? It’s the way the Japanese treat them that fascinates me. They are beautifully arranged in trays, and displayed and treated with great reverence. They also taste great!

Strawberries are expensive
The tray of strawberries pictured above, shows 42 pieces which were for sale in Daimaru for 5,400 yen. In simple terms, that’s about $54 AUD (at the lower end of the conversion rate). The fruit is usually delicious, flavoursome and tastes like real strawberries. However, unless they are grown in glasshouses somewhere here – they are definitely out of season, and costing a lot to get them to Hokkaido to sell. 

Strawberries are cherished
The strawberries are arranged beautifully on trays – even in the supermarkets. The time and care given to their presentation is very Japanese. They love to present things and wrap them individually, indicating a care for each item. These ones were about 13,800 for two punnets ($13.80+AUD).

Strawberries are luxury fruit
These strawberries must have been extra special. Each one was wrapped in a kind of polystyrofoam packaging to protect the fruit from bruising I suppose. There was no price I could see on this one.

We had strawberries on Christmas day as a special treat. Since then, we have taken visual delight only in the berries. Perhaps by the end of our stay we will get more reasonable prices?