Gourmet @Takachiho, Miyazaki Pref.

@Ryokan Suehiro, Takachiho ... a small but comfortable traditional Japanese hotel run by a family.

The best way to start your day is to have a healthy breakfast. From bottom right, home made soft tofu, freshly boiled bamboo shoot, pickled seaweed, sweet black beans, fried egg (nothing special about the eggs, but the chicken is grown wild in the mountain and wild grown chicken is rare in Japan), konyaku jelly noodle cooked in black sesame powder, rice with wheat porridge topped with pickled plum and pickled vegetables. In the middle is a smoked wild masu-trout.

Top Five Most Expensive & Rare Fruits

What are the top five most expensive fruits in Japan? ... well, here are some facts from walking around Tokyo. Check it out! (92.5 Yen = 1 USD as per today)

1. A home grown Musk Melon at 26,250Yen! ( = USD 283 each)

2. Mango named as Taiyo no Tamago (The Egg of the Sun), claimed to be the Tropical Fruit of Miyazaki Prefecture, sold at 15,750 Yen (= USD 170) each.

3. A 19 cm width cube-shape watermelon - especially grown with the latest patented technique in Kagawa Prefecture. This fruit has brought international attention and is now exported to some cities in South East Asia and Canada, priced at 15,000 Yen locally ( USD 162)

4. A box of red cherry (branded Sato Nishiki) containing 40 pcs, at 11,800 Yen (= USD 127 a box or USD 3 each bite)

(www.satonishiki.com/)

5. Papaya - only the size of an adult fist, grown in Japan, branded National Papaya, at 2,625 Yen (= USD 28 each)

You may be disappointed to know that I have not bought any of those fruits for my own consumption, BUT have done so for "ochugen" instead. The same way i think with most Japanese who purchase these rare and expensive fruits, they usually buy it for gifts more than for their own consumption.

Check out "ochugen" at http://4love4live.blogspot.com/2009/07/o-chugen-gift-giving-today.html