RINGO stars!

(haha.. okay, this is so cheesy that it hurts. You see, ringo is the Japanese word for apple and this post is about my apple picking trip last Sunday... and ringo always makes me think of Ringo Starr...soooo...yeah.)

After an interesting Saturday, I thought that a bit of fresh air and BBQ in the mountains of Numata would do me some good. So I went along with some JET friends to pick one apple and take many pictures of it, then sit as close to the warm BBQ as I physically could until we piled back into the car for home. The weather was a bit iffy so it some of the people that were supposed to come didn't, making it a quiet afternoon. There's not much to say about apple picking in Japan that makes it any different from America, so I'll just share some photos and leave it at that.
oooooooh...its really high!
...but I got it! yay!! ..see how happy apple picking can make a person?
apple treasures too delicious to keep for oneself... sharing is vital to the Japanese apple picking experience!

You should know that no one filled their basket with apples to bring home, it was basically pick what you can eat...and what you can't eat, cut into pieces and distribute to innocent passers by (this is easy to do because apple picking also involves carrying a big knife. Japanese people don't eat apple skin, so even spur of the moment eating requires kitchen utensils and a trash bucket).

apple orchard fashion?
we went into the restricted area of the orchard to take pictures of the prettier trees... golden delicious (?) and fuji apples in this shot
an underutilized talent for balancing an apple on my head? (this is still the one apple that I picked and took 10,000 pictures with before eating)
pre-picked apples for sale at the orchard shop
this picture is for those of you imagining hot dogs and hamburgers when I mentioned BBQ earlier... there was also some meat and chicken going around, but this picture is from the prawn/squid phase of the feast