Food for free. All over town – and the countryside too – the biwa (loquat) trees are in fruit. And this year it's a bumper crop.
In years past, the subtle perfumed sweetness of this fruit was prized. However, these days few people seem very interested in this humble delicacy, even when it's in their own gardens.
On most trees, the fruit is just left until it gets so mature it starts to ferment. That's when the crows move in. Some years they get so boisterous you know it's because they're high on that natural fruit wine...
Of course, not all biwa are for up for grabs on the trees...
There are farmers who painstakingly cultivate them — and get a pretty penny for their efforts, especially in the mid-year chugen present-giving season. At this online shopping site, a carton of premium biwa (12 pieces) sells for ¥8,000.
But here is an example of a tree that has just got left untended — and the fruit are already starting to shrivel, concentrate and (depending on the weather) turn fizzy alcoholic...
