About Strawberries in Gunma Prefecture

Strawberries

Yayoihime (from December to June)
This variety is characterized by ruby-red color and firm flesh, which strikes the right balance between sweetness and acidity. In Japanese, “Yayoi” is the word for March. While the quality of most strawberries tends to decline after March, the Yayoihime maintains its fresh taste even in March.
This is a rare type of strawberry, which mainly appears on the local market in Gunma, so don’t forget to taste it when you visit the prefecture.

Producer interview

Strawberry Producer: Shigemasa Kanai

“Yayoihime” is a strawberry variety originating from Gunma Prefecture.
This strawberry now accounts for roughly 80% of cultivation here. It has even become one of Gunma’s most popular fruits.
Rarely seen in supermarkets, two-thirds of Yayoihime strawberries are sold directly at local farms. Many young, new farmers are involved in cultivation, improving the berry’s delicious flavor through competitions.
We will now introduce Mr. Shigemasa Kanai, who operates the Kanai Strawberry Garden in Takasaki. He is a successful strawberry farmer with a successful career and has even won gold at Gunma’s Strawberry Fair for three consecutive years. Kanai has also been awarded the fair’s Governor’s Prize, the highest honor, twice.
In our interview, Kanai reveals the charms of strawberries and the secret behind the delicious flavor of the Yayoihime.

Mr. Kanai What is so special about strawberries? Well, it’s a winter fruit available only in small quantities. Strawberries also easy to eat without having to peel anything off. They can be enjoyed between December, to around May or June.
The Yayoihime strawberry maintains its flavor the longest. I currently grow over 15 varieties, but the Yayoihime is still delicious even after March, unlike other varieties. The berry’s name contains “yayoi,” referring to the third month of the Japanese calendar.
Therefore, I strongly recommend Yayoihime to customers.
The large fruit has a sweetness balanced with refreshing acidity. Even after ripening, this strawberry stays firm and keeps for a long time. This is why they make ideal souvenirs or presents to give away.

Visitors can not only purchase strawberries at Kanai Strawberry Garden, but can also go strawberry picking. Many visitors taste each variety’s flavor and comment that the “Yayoihime is the most delicious––as expected!”

Mr. Kanai What’s most important to us is to produce strawberries that make our customers want to eat it again. The most difficult part of strawberry farming is disease, so we try our best to not use pesticides when possible. Instead, we take measures to introduce natural enemies of pests to grow healthy strawberries without the use of these chemicals.
We’ve also recently introduced state-of-the-art technology for controlling the concentration of carbon dioxide in the greenhouses. By properly controlling the concentration, the strawberries grow beautifully plump and become sweet as sugar is created by photosynthesis. We’ve adopted an automatic management system to thoroughly control the daily temperature, water management, and concentration of carbon dioxide.
We also take particular care into the work that goes into packing the strawberries for harvesting and sorting. We identify which strawberries are delicious, harvest them, then prepare balanced shipment packaging. The most difficult part of strawberry cultivation might just be this process.
The goal is to make strawberries that taste and look delicious. That’s why we can’t cut corners. The shipping season, which lasts until early June, is completely taken up by this process. Once the crops settle in June, the process of growing the seeds for the next season begins in full-scale.

I specialize in strawberries, so I identify the good seeds and grow them myself to produce great strawberries. We take great care in quality management from when the fruit starts as a seedling, all the way to shipment to produce strawberries that you’ll want to eat again. Each and every strawberry are like jewels, attentively produced with care.

Mr. Kanai For me, strawberries that are plump and have uniform seeds are delicious. Be sure to look at its color when it’s ripe. Strawberries that redden down to the stem have great flavor. I recommend eating strawberries by hulling the stem, then eating it from the top down. Strawberries are sweet at the tip, so start eating from the top, which is less sweet, towards the bottom to gradually taste the sweetness and the flavor contrast.
The garden also sells smoothies made with frozen strawberries and strawberry daifuku (mochi with sweet filling) that contains an entire plump strawberry.
Smoothies are sold year-round, even when the strawberry season is over. There is nothing as satisfying as a strawberry smoothie in the heat of summer.

Mr. Kanai’s Yayoihime strawberries have won numerous prizes at the Strawberry Exhibition and are used by famous pâtissiers in the Tokyo metropolitan area. They have brought smiles to many customers.

Mr. Kanai The great thing about Gunma Prefecture is how sunny it is––especially during the winter––and the long daylight hours. Strawberries become very sweet with photosynthesis. This is a very suitable environment for strawberry cultivation. I hope to continue to produce strawberries with great care and deliver them to as many people as possible. Not many people dislike strawberries, right? A fruit that makes anyone smile: that’s what I believe strawberries are.

Strawberry Farm in Gunma Prefecture

いちごの里

Gumma

Private: Kondo Farm

Gumma

Private: Harada Strawberry Farm

Gumma

Strawberry Farm Yoichiro Orchards Ltd.

Gumma

Private: Farm Club Nakazato Farm

Gumma

Private: Maruyama Strawberry Farm

Gumma

Kajitsutei