K. Sawamura, Y. Harada, and T. Klkuehi Hirosaki University, Japan

J. M. Ogawa University of California, Davis

The Industry in Japan

I !/, $f:'qII A Historical S'ketch and .\)' .-#!eases Specific to the Region km

Japan produces about I million metric Meiji era (1848-1912). about 380 cub was . Tbis cultivar is now being tons of (Molur domestica Borkh.) tivars were introduced, mainly from the gmwn in other countries, including New per year, or 27% of the annual produc- United States, although some of these Zealand, Brazil, Korea, and the United tion in the United Stam. In Japan, had actually been selected in Europe States. apples are important not only because (mostly France and Great Britain). of the size of the industry with respect Fewer than 10 of these cultivars intro- Apple Produdlon Today to the population (125 million) but also duced by the Agency of Hokkaido Devel- The commercial production of applw because the large, highly colored fruit strt opment and by Japan's Ministry of the is still centered in northern Japan be- were prized as congratulatory gifts (Fig. 1). Interior accepted as commercial tween latitudes 36O and 44O north. The This dcledescrib the introduction of cultivars before the turn of the century. average rainfall in this region is 1,100- apple cultivars into Japan, the chmges Surprisingly. and for unknown reasons, 1,400 mm, and the relative humidity in cultural techniques used to produce the find seldomwere all American cul- averages 70 to 80% during the summer these cdtivars, and the strategies dtvel- tivm. New apple cultivars were not months. The prefecture (ken) with the oped to combat seriow diseascs endemic developed in Japan until the early 1930s. largest area in apple production is or introduced to the region. Of great signif~cmccwas an apple fruit Aomori, followed by Nagano, Y amagata, brought to Japan from the United Statcs Iwate, Fukushima, Akita, and Hokkaido The History of Apple by John Ing, a Christian minister and (Fig. 2). About 50% of the total apple Produetlon In Japan schoolteacherfrom Indian& At a Christ- production in Japan is in Aomori, where mas party in Himsaki in 1875 he showed In 1868, the Meiji restoration period the average growing season for different this large apple fruit to his invited guest$. cultivars range from I36 to 178 days. reopened Japan to foreign trde (13). One of the guests planted seeds from the Little is known about the introduction Orchards average 0.9 ha and are owned fruit, and a seedling he selected was by the growers, who, with their familits, of apple trees intof apan befort that time, named hdo, which, based on isozyme although imported trees were planted in do essentially all of the work required similarities (l), is believd to have been to produce a crop. the garden of the daimyo (feudal lord) derived from White Winter , of in Edo (now Tokyo) somewhat earIier. Most orchards (80% of those in Japan West Virginia origin. The lndo fruit was and 90% of those in Aomori) have low- In 1871, a newly formed agency of the much larger and sweeter than the Asian government imported 75 cultivars, density planting, i.e., 150-200 trees per apple called Waringo (M.aaiatica hectare, with trees pruned to a flat, open- principally from the United States, Asami), which originatd in China and including (Kokko). These center form and grown on Marubakaido had been introduced into Japan gweral rootstock (M. prunjroIia (Willd.) Borkh. cultivars of M. domestica served as centuries earlier. lndo was later crossed examples of modern apples with superior with , giving rise to size and flavor and also as breeding , a triploid seedling tree that material for new dtivm. During the develops large, yellowish green fruit in midwason. Mutsu continues to be an important cultivar. In 1962, Fuji. a Much dtheinfomatwn in this &k ww presented tion from a cross between RalIs Janet at the Deciduous Tree Fruit (Apple) Discost Workshop at Hirwkii Japsn, held ia conjunclion and DeLcious, was introduced by the with the Finb lnternalional Congress of Plmt Horticultural Division of Tohoku Agri- Pahology. Kyoto, Japan. in t988. This wmriew cultural Experiment Station, Aomori is bmd primarily on technical caliclm published in Prefecture (now Morioka Branch of Japan, hrgcly in Japanat prinl. Fruit Tree Research Station) at Fujisaki Dr. Ogawa's addm6 is: Depanmnt of Plant City, and named after that city as wcfl . =.Em Patholow. University of California, Davis. CA as Mount Fuji, Japan's highest moun- Flg. 1. Appk cuHlvar Mutw fruit bwrlng 95616. tain. This cultivar made a impact tk de8bgn koMI mapplm can- on the Japanese apple indmtry in that grrtulailonr") md pckdin loft pW about 5m of apple production in 1990 ndngto pment kulrlng. 546 Plant DiseaWol. 77 No. 6