Cherries from Yamagata

I received this most delicious gift from a colleague: a box of cherries from Yamagata Prefecture. They look perfect and taste perfect! Thanks!! I actually received one box last week, too, from Kaoru, a former student. She is kind to always have them shipped to me around this time of year.

I used to think that Japanese cherries were so expensive and when I visited Yamagata two years ago, I asked a taxi driver if he could take me to a farm. I was able to touch a cherry tree for the first time in my life. I also noticed the amount of work they had protecting the fruit and how the couples worked without much help. I appreciate their hard work in producing, protecting and picking them one by one and then perfectly packing the "red pearls." I do not think they are expensive anymore.