In Nagano, Autumn is a season for beautiful colored leaves, mushrooms in forests, and yummy FRUITS! Nagano prefecture is the second largest production district of apples and grapes in Japan (the first is Aomori in Tohoku for apples and Yamanashi, the neighboring prefecture, for grapes). So sometimes we refer to our prefecture as "Fruit Kingdom".
You can buy and eat various kinds of apples and grapes in farmers’ markets if you visit Nagano. Among those, the fuji apple is popular even outside Japan and I heard one apple is sold for $10 for rich consumers in some of Southeast Asian countries (you can buy it for less than $1 in Nagano).
And, if you pick apples in orchards and eat them immediately, you would be surprised that the taste of fresh apples is different from the usual ones you eat.
The experience of picking grapes and eating under grape vines is fun and it will be a good memory.
Some of the orchards where you can experience fruit picking are,
- Kamiyamada’s Crown Farm in Chikuma, Nagano
- "Fruit Kingdam" Association in Suzaka, Northern Nagano
- Azumino Fruit Land, Azumino Fruit Farm in Azumino, Central Nagano
- Fumondi Orchard in Shiojiri, Central Nagano
- Habiro Farming Park in Ina, Southern Nagano
- Sanwa Orchard in Iida, Southern Nagano
