Japan: Beat the heat with..pears :..[ 1737 ]

Beat the heat with Tottori Prefecture's '20th-century Japanese pears'

(Mainichi Japan) September 3, 2010
As the scorching summer lingers on, if you're looking for some cool fruit to beat the heat, you may want to bite into a "Nijisseiki" (20th-century) Japanese pear.
The pears, of which Tottori Prefecture is the number one producer, are approaching their harvesting time, and some varieties are already available. The pears have "a good balance of sweetness and acidity, as well as a crisp, fresh texture and high level of juiciness," says Tottori Prefecture's tourism and goodwill ambassador Shiori Nakahara.

Tottori's tourism and goodwill ambassador Shiori Nakahara holds a "natsuhime" Japanese pear next to a banner reading "Tottori Nijisseikinashi". (Mainichi)

Japanese pears are a different shape from those in the West. Rather than being fat at the bottom and thin at the top, they are almost perfectly round, and they are more firm and crisp. Though generally a tannish or yellowish color, many nijisseiki varieties are a light, yellow-green.

The Nijisseiki pear has two historical "fathers" -- Kakunosuke Matsudo, who in 1888 at the age of 13 discovered the pear tree growing in Chiba Prefecture, and Eiji Kitawake, who began cultivating the pear in Tottori Prefecture in 1904. People who tasted the fruit at the time were impressed by its juiciness and sweetness, and the name "nijisseiki" was bestowed, reflecting the expectation that the new fruit would be the pear of the new century.

The "natsuhime" Japanese pear is a new, sweeter, "elegant" variety whose name means "summer princess." (Mainichi)

There are competing theories about when the name was given. One theory says that it was in 1898, when the first nijisseiki pear tree bore fruit. Another theory suggests it was in 1904 during the editing of a magazine, released in 1905, that marked the first appearance of the name in print. If the former theory is correct, 2010 is the 112th year since the fruit was named.
Even today, the original sapling that Kitawake brought to Tottori Prefecture -- the ancestor of all nijisseiki pears being cultivated today -- is still alive and healthily bearing fruit in "Tottori Deai no Mori" (Tottori Forest of Encounters), a park in Tottori City. A tree called the "hyakunenju" (One-hundred year tree), grown from a branch received from Kitawake, also continues to grow in Yurihama, Tottori Prefecture. The Tottori Nijisseiki Pear Museum in the city of Kurayoshi, meanwhile, includes various exhibits on the nijisseiki pear including a re-creation of the lives of nijisseiki pear farmers in the mid-20th century.

Today, farmers in the prefecture continue to work on developing new breeds of nijisseiki pears, and two that are receiving particular attention are the "natsuhime" (summer princess) and "shinkansen" (new sweet spring) breeds. Both are resistant to disease and grow large and sweet fruits. They are harvested in late August, earlier than regular nijisseiki pears, which are harvested in mid-to-late September. Natsuhime pears are said to be refreshing and with less acidity than regular nijisseiki pears, while shinkansen pears are said to be especially sweet. All the prefecture's pears have gone through a strict inspection and choosing process. Despite an early rainy season in Japan this year, the sunny weather that followed allowed for a good crop with "a high level of sweetness," says Nakahara.

The prefectural government, farmers and the Tottori Nijisseiki Pear Museum are holding an event on Sept. 5 from 3:00 p.m. (quiz from 12:30 p.m.) at Fuji Terebi Kids Cafe Mamatoko on the sixth floor of Aqua City in Odaiba, Tokyo, where visitors can taste the natsuhime and shinkansen pears, buy pear-related goods, and see crafts made using pears.