A "BIG" new supermarket opens in Fukuoka

Name of the new supermarket is "Big"! Indeed it is really big and opened yesterday amid a rising Covid-19 in Japan.
We were there at 8.45 am but the place was very crowded and the parking area was full. We had to park our car 200m away in another carpark and walked to Big.
There were many discounted fruits, vegetables, fish, meat etc. on its opening day. We bought fish which was so fresh (1 kg at S$13) that we could have it as sashimi. The 8 kg watermelon was Yen 983 Yen (S$13) and we bought 2. In the night,we visited Big again and got ourselves some futomaki, yakisoba, okonomiyaki etc at a hefty 50% discount for supper and the next day's breakfast.
It looks like Big is going to be one of our favorite supermarkets.

Harvesting watermelons

We initially had 10 watermelons but due to insects/pests, we were left with a total of 8 which we harvested yesterday. We gave away to our neighbors a few and kept the rest for ourselves. This season's watermelons are not as sweet as expected due to the weather. We will go for the second harvest soon and hope the weather is kinder.
Each watermelon is selling at S$13 (Yen 1,000) in the supermarket in Japan.

Growing watermelons in Japan

The watermelons although planted at around the same time, the growth or results differ from one fruit to another. The bottom one is the fastest growing melon with others still trying to play catch-up. We have planted them about 6 weeks ago. The time to harvest the biggest one is probably 3 weeks from today. Will post the result soon.

Growing watermelons

It is exciting time for us as the watermelon plants are bearing fruits (above picture). It will take another 45 days before they grow bigger (about 4 to 5 kg) and ready to be eaten. Right now, we need to give lots of tender loving care to the plant. It should spread out on the ground and we have to water the plant at least twice a week. The plant also need plenty of sunlight, about 8 to 10 hours a day. Hopefully in a month or two, I will post the pictures of the ready to eat watermelons.

Plums and watermelon

In return for the plums, we presented our friends with a few gifts. They felt bad and so invited us again to pluck the many plums on their trees. The rain has caused many of the ripened plums to drop, our friends told us and so they encouraged us to pluck some more plums in order not to waste them. They also gave one of the three watermelons that they grow. It was juicy and very very sweet. This watermelon is the best we have tasted. We are very grateful to our friends for giving us the opportunity to taste such lovely fruits. In Singapore, we will never have the same opportunity as in Japan.

Exchange of gifts

We bought the watermelon and gave half of it to our neighbors who in return gave us their home grown cucumbers and bitter gourds. In Japan, there is a lot of formalities and I am getting accustomed to it.

Visiting Munakata, Fukuoka Japan

We drove to the city of Munakata which is in the prefecture of Fukuoka , 26 km away. The population of Munakata is about 97,000 and the area is 14.5 times the size of Toa Payoh, Singapore. Toa Payoh has a population of 125,000.
Shopping is rather expensive and so we did not buy much things from Munakata. We had lunch over there.
On the way we stopped at a stall by the roadside. It was advertising a watermelon was going for about S$6. When got there, we were told the small ones (only 3 left) cost 500 Yen or $6 and the rest cost from 2,000 Yen to 6,000 Yen. Ridiculous, too expensive! and so we left without buying. Could have easily got the big ones at a supermarket for 1,000 Yen ($12).