I was in Shibuya and you can't go empty handed to a hanami party so in the

basement of the station is a place called Tokyu department store and they

have a place called Food Show which has some of the most amazing fruits in all

of Japan. Rare and super expensive.

And then I saw this.

That's it right in the center.

the white strawberry. I mean is it unripe?

Painted? Dyed? Bleached? What? They had it in a box and here in a case almost like

jewelry. Just one white strawberry in a pack

you could smell it standing a couple meters away. A big price tag for a

strawberry. But hey, you only live once, right?

and it's pretty big. That's right the mother of all strawberries. Technically

I'm incorrect. The mother of all strawberries would be the BIJIN HIME

or beautiful princess strawberry at Okuda farm in Gifu Prefecture. It's

big and beautiful. Up to 100 grams. 1 strawberry can cost fifty thousand yen so

who buys a $500 strawberry? It's for gifts of course, to the one you love this

is the 500 yen coin next to a typical large strawberry. And here is the BIJIN HIME. Most

impressive. Maybe even better than a diamond ring. What makes the Japanese

strawberry so delicious? I traveled across the river from Tokyo to

neighboring Ichikawa city in Chiba Prefecture to find some answers at OTA

Strawberry Farm established in 1999

I asked Ota-san why Japanese strawberries were so sweet.

It starts with winter.

In winter, it takes a long time for it to get ripe, to get red

so over more time, it gets redder.

and much sweeter.

Once it gets to March, it gets much warmer.

That speeds up ripening more quickly.

That means it's not as sweet (as in the winter).

Temperature control is important to sweetness. The best season from January

to March. I learned a lot from Ota-san.

He grows four varieties of strawberries, each one a different size and shape. Japan

has a love affair with strawberries. The names reflect that. Tochi Otome.

Beni Hoppe. Hatsukoi no Kaori. All romantic names. It's just beautiful, isn't it?

That's the Japanese strawberry. Japanese strawberries are typically softer and

juicier than other strawberries. This makes it hard to export and anyway, there

are a lot of hungry strawberry eaters here in Japan. According to the Japanese

National Tourist Organization JNTO, Japan is the largest producer and

consumer of dessert strawberries in the world. You can see why this is a paradise

for sweet tooth strawberry lovers. It even has a place in the sandwich line.

The strawberry custard or cream sandwiches is a hit. Perfect with coffee

or a glass of champagne.

Back to the white strawberry. Meet Teshima-san in Saga prefecture, the only one

who grows the Shiroi Houseki variety of White strawberry. I talked to

him by telephone and he told me that his farm has about 50 varieties of white

strawberries. They are made by crossbreeding and strict sunlight control in his

greenhouse. Strawberries are a little bit like people. If you get a lot of sunlight

you turn brown. Strawberries turn red.

the SHIROI HOUSEKI is rare because only ten percent stay wide after sun

exposure, and those are the ones that are prized.

This is a pinebarry. It's one variety of white strawberry

popular in Europe these days

this is the SHOROI HOUSEKI or white jewel of saga prefecture. It's called this because

it resembles a precious stone with a little blush and it's extremely rare to

find. The original mainstream Japanese white strawberry is the Hatsukoi no Kaori

or Scent of First Love. The SHIROI HOUSEKI on the other hand is a

strawberry that was crossbred with very limited sun exposure in the greenhouse

If you didn't see the sun, often you'd probably be pale too! Its white because it

contains less ANTHOCYANIN which is what gives strawberries its red color. As you

can see, both the white but the pineberry is much smaller. The SHOROI HOUSEKI

is larger, softer and juicer. There are many kinds of white

strawberries in Japan. Yuki Usagi. Sakura Ichigo. Tenshi no Mi. They're all

crossbred man-made varieties of the strawberry with new versions popping up

every year

mind you these are not genetically modified but crossbred there's a

difference. Is the SHIROI HOUSEKI a Pineberry? I'd say no.

I see it as a Sleeping Beauty. Cinderella inside one glass slipper. She's not

entirely white. That blush! It's berry seductive.

Soft skin.

And those dimples.

Eh, hairy dimples aren't my thing, but I could look past it with a glass of champagne.

Her sisters are marked as white strawberries but they're more like

pink. You can see why these costs only 480 yen. Not cheap

but they aren't exactly going to win a beauty pageant. The normal red

strawberries look good, too. But come on!

We all dream of this one. Only 1080 yen and she's yours.

so for reference I have a regular sized strawberry here and the white strawberry.

And now -- the SHIROI HOUSEKI.

They both smell really sweet -- but this one has more of a sugary smell

to it. Okay, for reference I'm going to try the normal strawberry first

Sweet. Strawberry-ry.

The white SHIROI HOUSEKI. Pineapple in the first two seconds. Very pleasant.

Inside the SHIROI HOUSEKI white strawberry is -- white

no surprise there. Both strawberries were delicious and offered a different

taste experience. So now you have to ask yourself, was it worth it?

No.

No it wasn't.

But, I think you have to try it because just curiosity gets the better of you when

you see something that's outrageously priced and to be honest 1080 yen is not

that much to try for an experiment. I mean a melon would cost 25,000 yen which

is about $220. Well that's for a pair of muskmelon but still, that's a lot you

could pay even more. But this is so Japanese because what they've done is

taken something like the everyday strawberry and they've made it better

bigger -- white! And that's pretty cool.

A small price to pay for a berry delicious adventure and Japan.