If you ask someone about Aomori Prefecture, it is likely that the subject of apples would pop up in conversation sooner or later. The city of Hirosaki boasts the title of holding the highest apple crop yields in Japan, producing 160,000 tons of apples per year, and being home to more than 6,000 orchards and 3.12 million trees.
Unsurprisingly, apple pies are available in almost any bakery (47 are listed in the "Hirosaki Apple Pie Guide Map"), and signboards, ad posters, even mailboxes often feature a design of the once forbidden fruit. But for visitors finding pie and apple motif souvenirs a bit old by now, the city's farmers have started a new trend: apple cider — the alcoholic kind.
"In 2008, farms in the entire Tsugaru area (of Aomori) were hit by major hail storms. That inspired me to start this cider brand, as a way to make use of damaged apples," says Kimori cider founder Satoshi Takahashi as he shows me around the factory. "We nurture apples every day for a year, so just thinking about throwing them away upsets us. In the future, Kimori could become a financial aid for other farmers (by purchasing damaged apples from them)."