It is so astonishing: Many fruits in Japan look alike fruits you get in Europe, but they have a complete different taste. Or even more confusing: some Japanese fruits taste similar to a different kind of European fruit. And on the other hand some kinds of fruits have a similar taste, but look very different from their European counterparts or similar to an other kind of fruit in Europe. For example pears taste more or less the same, but some kinds look like European apples to me. And on the other hand some Japanese apples taste a little like melons to me. My favorite Japanese fruits are grapes. They have a really special taste, a bit like plums I know from Europe.

This has to sound really weird to most of the people. I mean: An apple is an apple, isn’t it? And a grape is a grape! I almost doubted my own sense of taste. But talking to other European people they agreed with me. And this is a very interesting realization. We have a very strong idea of things: how they look, how they taste and how they are meant to be. But this ideas can differ from people to people depending on where you are and to whom you talk. So showing a picture of an apple and asking “do you like it” can lead to a lot of confusion. And talking about intercultural communication in general I begin to understand why it can be very challenging.

So I hope there weren’t and there won’t be to many misunderstandings during my stay in Japan. And meanwhile I will explore the diversity of Japanese fruits and let myself be surprised of new tastes of fruits I thought I would know.

Frederik