The bitterness that lies in the cultivation of strawberries in Japan

MINOH, Japan — Strawberry Shortcake. Strawberry mochi. Strawberries a la mode. These may sound like summer treats. But in Japan, the strawberry harvest peaks in winter—a cold season for perfect strawberries, with the pristine ones selling for hundreds of dollars each to be given as special gifts. Japanese strawberries carry an environmental cost. To recreate an artificial spring, farmers grow their delicacies in the off-season in huge greenhouses with giant gas-guzzling heaters. “We have reached a point where many people think that it is natural to have strawberries in winter,” said Satoko Yoshimura, a strawberry farmer in Minoh, on the outskirts of Osaka, who until last season burned kerosene to heat her greenhouse during all the winter. But as he continued to fill his heater tank with fuel, he said, he began to think, "What are we doing?" Fruits and vegetables are grown in greenhouses all over the world. However, the Japanese strawberry industry has taken it to such an extreme ...