[TravelNotes#4] Japanese Strawberries: A Spring Flavor That Surprises Every Visitor
One of the great pleasures of visiting Japan in spring is the seasonal food. There are cherry blossom sweets — beautiful to look at, with the distinctively sweet-and-salty flavor of salt-pickled sakura leaves that makes for a wonderfully fresh experience for foreign visitors. But another star of the season is the strawberry. Vivid red, intensely sweet, and available in a remarkable range of varieties — Japanese strawberries are of a quality that leaves first-time tasters genuinely astonished. Here is an introduction to one of Japan's signature spring fruits: the kind that makes visitors reach for their phones, post to social media, and come home still craving more.
Japanese Strawberries
Compared to strawberries found overseas, Japanese strawberries are overwhelmingly juicier and sweeter, and their size and beauty have earned them the nickname "red jewels" among foreign fans.
A Guide to Japan's Representative Strawberry Varieties
Below is a summary of the leading strawberry varieties and their characteristics. Which one you find most delicious is entirely a matter of personal taste, so try a few and find your favorite. For what it's worth, my personal favorite is Skyberry, for what feels like a perfect balance of sweetness and tartness.
| Variety | Main Region | Sweetness |
Tartness |
Characteristics & Flavor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amaou | Fukuoka | 5 stars | 3 stars | Large and intensely rich. True to its name — "red, round, big, delicious" — the most satisfying bite of all. |
| Tochiotome | Tochigi | 4 stars | 4 stars | Japan's most widely grown variety. A well-balanced blend of sweetness and tartness — the definitive taste of a Japanese strawberry. |
| Skyberry | Tochigi | 4 stars | 2 stars | Larger than Tochiotome, less tart, and juicy. Notable for its elegant aroma. |
| Benihoppe | Shizuoka | 4 stars | 4 stars | Strong in both sweetness and tartness, with a deep, rich flavor. The name means "cheeks that drop" — as in, so good it makes your cheeks fall off. |
| Sagahonoka | Saga | 3 stars | 1 star | Almost no tartness, with a clean, refined sweetness. Beautiful in shape and popular as a gift. |
- For those who love sweetness: Amaou
- For those who want a balance of sweet and tart: Tochiotome, Benihoppe
- For those who dislike sourness: Sagahonoka, Skyberry
The History of Japanese Strawberries
1. A History of Artisanal Selective Breeding
The history of Japanese strawberries is, in essence, a history of relentless kaizen — continuous improvement.
- Background: Strawberries were originally brought to Japan from the Netherlands during the Edo period(1603 - 1868 CE). At the time they were grown as ornamental plants, but serious research into them as food began from the Meiji era(1868–1912 CE) onward.
- Key point: Japan is said to be home to more than half of all strawberry varieties in the world — over 300 types. This is the result of farmers across every prefecture competing to create the finest variety unique to their own region.
2. A Custom Unique to Japan
Eating strawberry shortcake at Christmas is a tradition found nowhere else in the world.
- Background: Strawberries are naturally a late spring to early summer fruit (May to June). Yet to meet the demand for Christmas in December, Japanese farmers pushed greenhouse cultivation technology to its absolute limits, making it possible to grow sweet strawberries even in winter.
- Key point: The ability to shift a fruit's season forward like this is unparalleled anywhere in the world. The reason Japanese strawberries taste sweet in winter is entirely thanks to the advanced art of temperature control.
Thank you so much for reading.
I hope this proves useful for your travels.
See you in the next article.
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