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  • Today we're heading outside Tokyo for an event a whole year in the making.

  • 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 treessometimes!

  • 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 sayThere are two chickens in the gardenin 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.