A couple days ago I visited Ichigo World (Strawberry World) - the strawberry farms in Northern Japan that are growing one of Japan's most expensive strawberries! Their premium strawberry is sold in Japanese department stores for 1000 yen (about $9) EACH.
If you visit their farms in person, they also have an all-you-can-eat strawberry option! I was scared to ask how much this cost, haha. But actually it's very affordable! The pricer differs depending on the season, but it ranges from 1300-2000 yen for 30 minutes of all-you-can-eat strawberry picking! Unfortunately this doesn't include their luxury strawberries that sell for 1000 yen each - but if I'm being honest... the regular strawberries were sweeter and tasted even better! ๐ฒThe reason the other type of strawberry is sold as the premium strawberry is apparently because it has a tougher skin and can be shipped easily, whereas their regular strawberries are a lot softer.
Expensive fruits like this are often given as gifts in Japan, so what's most important is that they have a perfect appearance. They'll be wrapped nicely, often in a pretty box.
They also had a gift shop selling a really interesting variety of strawberry products. Even an entire line of skincare! Was so tempted to grab a face scrub but it was a little too pricey for me - 3800 yen (about $35). Ending up taking home a sparkling strawberry cider, which I'm currently drinking! It has a delicate balance of sweet and sour, it's so nice ๐ท
If you find yourself in Northern Japan during strawberry season you must stop here, I can't believe how sweet and juicy their strawberries are and their price for strawberry picking is a steal!
They're quite English-friendly, and they even have an English reservation page :)