Miss HappyFeet: Fruit Picking in Japan Experience Sharing: Gamagori Orange Park

Friday, February 15, 2019

Fruit Picking in Japan Experience Sharing: Gamagori Orange Park

Situated on the coast of Mikawa Bay on the Pacific Ocean in southeastern Aichi Prefecture, Gamagori is a beautiful city famous for its ocean view, hot spring and most importantly a locally grown citrus fruit, Mikan, which is a type of mandarin orange that grows along the mountainside part of this seaside city. So naturally, our first mission of the day was to try some mandarin oranges and to up our game, we just haaaaave to work mandarin picking into our itinerary.

Our destination, the gamagori orange park is located in the mountains of Gamagori overlooking Mikawa Bay. Gamagori Orange park, although having the word orange in its name, do not just limit it’s plantations to oranges. Depending on the season of your visit, you’ll be able to enjoy a wide variety of activities: strawberries picking from January to May, melons, and grapes picking from June to September, and from October to December, Mikan mandarin oranges! If you are keen to organize a barbecue party in this idyllic setting (Yes, you can!), you just need to call and reserve in advance!

Upon arrival, the friendly staff led us through a narrow path into a huge plantation of Mikan mandarin oranges. She first gave us some useful tips on how to pick the sweetest oranges (by looking at the size) and the way to pick the mandarin oranges without hurting the tree (You'll have to twist the orange off the branch, rather than pick the off directly!).

The fun part is, as we pick our oranges, we can enjoy peeling and savoring the oranges on the spot! It's like an all-you-can-eat orange buffet right off the trees! You won't be scorned for putting a fruit in your mouth that you've just picked. The orange peels should be thrown directly under the trees as they will act as fertilizer for their mother tree.

Fruit harvesting at Gamagori Orange Park is offered in several plans such as an all-you-can-eat plan or a take-home plan and will vary respectively in price.
After picking ourselves a basket full of Mikan, we were ushered into the gift shop and was offered a large cup of freshly squeezed Mikan's orange juice. It was seriously refreshing, sweet and very smooth. Just 350 Yen per cup, yeah!

Park Details

Admission: Fee varies according to your plan (all-you-can-eat or all-you-can-take-home, or both) Ranges from 1300~ 2000 Japanese Yen for adults.
Time spent: 1 hour 30 minutes
How to get there?
Gamagori station is just 970 yen and 40 minutes away from Nagoya Sation if you hop on the JR Tokaido Line kaisoku (rapid) train.
A fun way to get to Gamagori Orange park is to cycle from the JR Gamagori Station to the farm. Bicycles can be rented on the spot from the Tourism Association located in the train station.

And Here Is Our Reward of the Day!

All of us went back with a basket full of Mikan Oranges, a satisfying cup of pure Orange juice and some brochure for more information to share with you guys! What a day!

My Verdict

The Gamagori Orange Park is a perfect place to spend a sunny morning with family or your loved ones. If you get hungry, I highly recommend going to the restaurant and get yourself a large cup of fresh Mikan juice, pairing with the park’s specialty, the original Gamagori Mandarin Orange Cake. Yum!
We heard that during summertime, the melon-picking plan is especially popular and we totally understand why! Naturally, summer reservation spots fill up fast, so if you are planning to visit during the summertime, book your time slot as soon as possible!

Full Video on my 4 days in Aichi Prefecture

Thank you for reading!

My trip to Japan was made possible by the Tourism Bureau of Aichi Prefecture. To plan your trip, I highly recommend using this site as a guide: Aichi NOW

------------------------