The area we're heading to is Matsuda,

and the event is nothing other than the mikan harvest.

Let's go!

[Life in Japan theme song]

Off the Tomei expressway, about an hour from Tokyo, is an area full of mikan trees called Matsuda.

Here, one of our friends has a farm and invited us out to their annual mikan picking.

Wait, where are they going to land. Where are they going to land. I don't know.

It's got to be cold.

I think it would be a little cold.

Oh here comes Joshua! Whoa, whoa Joshua.

Samu!

The drive to get to Matsuda is full of traffic on Saturdays,

so we were waiting for the rest of the group to show up before picking mikans.

But no problem, everyone was hungry and had brought their own bento to eat.

Oh here we go, down the path.

What will we find.

Whoa. Watch your step.

As we walked towards our lunch spot, we weren't quite sure what had gotten into.

But a tree loaded with fruit promised us a great afternoon.

This would be a fun day indeed.

Oh wow!

Our friend Rika welcomed us to her beautiful picnic area,

complete with a bbq pit and playground, not to mention some great views of Mt Fuji.

Well John, this is the year of the views. Fuji-san!

Right? Yeah man.

Views of Fuji.

Cloud kissed Fuji-san.

John, did you bring your tent?

We should have brought tents. We should have brought tents. We could have been camping here.

Like right here. Would be perfect. You just wake up, look out and look at Fuji.

Man! So true.

That is awesome. This would be a great camp spot.

As my friend John and I swooned for the view, Ruth was busy swooning over something else.

What is that Ruth?

Oh, it's like a really thick misoshiru soup.

Called... called something.

Hey, what's the name of this?

Tonjiru.

Ohhhh. Ohh boy.

Nice! Enjoy.

Having some fun at a friend's place. What a beautiful day. Wow.

Becca you got a hitchhiker there. A praying mantis.

Look at this swing partner you've got here Anna.

Eliana, Joshua

After everyone had eaten and played their hearts out, the long-awaited moment arrived.

It was time to pick some mikans.

Don't let go!

Is this legal?

Kurobe! Kurobe Gorge.

Oh man, crazy.

Japanese citrus fruits are similar and yet different to the varieties found in the Western Hemisphere.

When we first saw the Satsuma Oranges at our local grocery store and gave them a try,

we instantly fell in love with the sweet, tart taste packed into these little oranges.

They're easy to peal and great for a snack, but we prefer their Japanese name: the mikan.

Joshua you got some, huh?

Is it good?

You like mikans, don't you.

Is it yummy?

Becca's going to pick this mikan right here, huh?

You get it? Oh you got it!

Oh nice.

And you have to get the stem off. Is that what you're working on?

Yeah, or it's going to spoil.

Look what I just now peeled. And now I'm going to eat it right now.

Ok, lets see.

Whew! Got it! Got it. It looks good.

It's pretty good.

Oh Sarah, you going to get one?

Oh, you're eating a mikan while picking mikans.

When picking mikans, you need to completely remove the stem, otherwise they can poke other mikans in the basket and cause them to go sour.

And if one goes sour, they all go sour!

Oh, there's another one.

Oh, that looks delicious!

1, 2, 3 look at mommy!

Yay. Good job!

Ok, let me take a picture of you!

Oh Becca! Can I try a piece of this?

Yes

Look at this - oh my goodness!

Ok we're going to try this right now.

Hey camera! What?

Guess where my mikan is? I don't have any!

Where did it go? In my pocket!

Here's what I got. You got a mikan too.

Everybody's got Mikans! Ah! La la la!

Today we are at a Mikan orchard.

Picking mikans... Look how big mine is

Look how big it is.

Anna's over there

Joshua's somewhere.

There's just so many mikans.

What were you saying Joshua?

I was saying this is like Animal Crossing, you know why?

Why?

Because there's mikans all the time in the trees— sometimes!

Just like Animal Crossing, huh?

Because in Animal Crossing there's some mikans on the trees

See? Mikan there... Yeah, there's Mikans

Mikans everywhere! Mikans everywhere!

Sarah, what do you think? Is picking mikans pretty cool?

So cool.

Then you have to cut the top off so it's not sharp, right? Yeah.

So the other mikans don't go bad.

Picking mikans is so much fun you have to be careful, before you know it you've filled a whole bucket without even trying.

As the afternoon went on, I began to wonder just how many mikans our family had picked!

Look at all the mikans of the Eisenmanns! That's right.

Look at- that's a whole bushel?

It's for 7 people you know!

Momma's having fun! Momma chan

I am picking mikans, yo.

Ruth was in her element, and quickly adding to our basket. It was fun to see the whole family really get into it.

Daddy look at my humungous mikan!

Wow, that is a massive mikan!

Ok goodbye.

Did you hear what they're called in English?

Uncle John says they're called "Cuties" — in English

Why Cuties?

Cutie? I don't know. It's a cute little tangerine or cute little orange.

Ruth's ready for the harvest.

It's like (singing) bringing in the sheaves... I like these little ones...

(singing) bringing in the sheaves... They're easy for my kids too.

Oh my, baby!

He's like "I found a stick, yes!"

I wanna pick a mikan too! At least a mikan stick, huh?

All the time in the orchard reminded us of one of our favorite Japanese tongue twisters:

Do you know how to say “There are two chickens in the garden” in Japanese?

Niwa niwa niwa niwatori ga iru.

Ah! That's what you wanted me to say!

Tongue twisters!

Look at that! You just chilling right here, huh?

That's as cool place as any just to chill I guess.

Finally the time came to weigh out.

The big question would soon be answered: how many mikans did we pick.

Was it more or less than the others? Would we still like mikans in a week?

Alright, yes!

Oh thanks, arigatou.

Ten kilograms... so how much do I owe you?

10 times 2, that's 2,000 yen, right?

Debs, I think that Izzy picked those too, ne?

Are those Izzy's also? I think so.

Seven [kg]

I think we should take that.

While Ben and Debbie figured out just how many mikans their family picked, we tallied up our total.

Ah, so much fun!

Thank you!

Ah... ah! Ok, that's 11 [kg]

11! Yep.

11 kilos, wow!

All those mikans for around $20 is pretty awesome, but doing it together with friends and family is priceless!

Hey Ben... can I get the official interview?

How's it going? How's it going here, Ben san?

Hey! How much, how much fruit did the Block family pick?

Well, we had about 11 kilos and then somehow my daughter had another bucket of about 5 kilos or so

So altogether we have 16 kilos of mikan.

Whew! Going to be eating good!

Awesome

I guess the Block kids just couldn't be stopped when it came to picking mikans. At least my kids were all done now.

O Joshua, you still have some?!

Yeah! Oh, they're in your shirt?!

Oh my goodness! And over there? OK, go give them to mommy.

Go show mommy, ok?

Don't drop them.

I'm trying to get them.

Mikan snowman — let's see it.

Mikan snowman, yeah!

Good job, Sarah.

This reminds me of Michigan.

Oh look, there's more mikan, you're not done yet!

Go take it to mommy.

Let mommy deal with it.

You got more?!

And that was our adventure picking mikans not far from Mt Fuji.

So I guess the big question now is: do we still like mikans?

The answer is yes! And we're already looking forward to next year!

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Next week, on Friday, December 24 it's Christmas Eve

And at 7 PM JST we're going to do our livestream of Life in Japan, a Christmas Family Celebration.

And if you are in the area, you can join us in person at Paz Coffee Shop

All the details are in the description, so please check it out.

So thanks for liking, subscribing to this channel and until next time...

Until next week, we'll see you on Life in Japan. Bye bye.