In early December, Masanao Saito, 83, a farmer in the Takase district of the inland town of Yamamoto, Miyagi Prefecture, was talking to his mikan tangerine trees full of fruit. ¡°Thank you for bearing fruit again this year.¡±
Using special scissors, Saito carefully plucked the ¡°Okitsu Wase¡± tangerines, now in their third year of production. The fruit, glistening in the sunlight, stood out against the farmland in early winter, which was beginning to lose its color.
On a hill near Saito¡¯s tangerine farm, a field of apple trees spreads out, with the familiar bright red fruits waiting to be harvested.
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