Now I'm thinking of other things. Okonomayaki (sp?), and the green pepper yakitori with the giant salt grains. And those tiny cans of beer from the vending machines - three perfect cold swallows on a really hot day...
Most Japanese fruits are seasonal. So oranges and mandarins in season were virtually free. Japan doesn't really produce bananas, so there are no protective tariffs, which keeps the cost down and makes them pretty affordable. The seasonality was kind of nice. The sudden availability of large bags of mandarin oranges for virtually nothing was such a treat.
What the US has is a variety of climates, so that strawberries are more expensive when they are out of season, but not horribly so. Where I live in Florida, strawberry season is in February. In the summer, we import them from up north. Oh, and most of our eating oranges come from California, since most Flordia growers produce juice oranges.
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