A couple days ago I visited Ichigo World (Strawberry World) - the strawberry farms in Northern Japan that are growing one of Japan's most expensive strawberries! Their premium strawberry is sold in Japanese department stores for 1000 yen (about $9) EACH.
If you visit their farms in person, they also have an all-you-can-eat strawberry option! I was scared to ask how much this cost, haha. But actually it's very affordable! The pricer differs depending on the season, but it ranges from 1300-2000 yen for 30 minutes of all-you-can-eat strawberry picking! Unfortunately this doesn't include their luxury strawberries that sell for 1000 yen each - but if I'm being honest... the regular strawberries were sweeter and tasted even better! 😲The reason the other type of strawberry is sold as the premium strawberry is apparently because it has a tougher skin and can be shipped easily, whereas their regular strawberries are a lot softer.
Expensive fruits like this are often given as gifts in Japan, so what's most important is that they have a perfect appearance. They'll be wrapped nicely, often in a pretty box.
They also had a gift shop selling a really interesting variety of strawberry products. Even an entire line of skincare! Was so tempted to grab a face scrub but it was a little too pricey for me - 3800 yen (about $35). Ending up taking home a sparkling strawberry cider, which I'm currently drinking! It has a delicate balance of sweet and sour, it's so nice 🍷
If you find yourself in Northern Japan during strawberry season you must stop here, I can't believe how sweet and juicy their strawberries are and their price for strawberry picking is a steal!
They're quite English-friendly, and they even have an English reservation page :)