The World of Apples

Apples of Japan

38 varieties in the atlas came from Japan. The oldest is Indo, dated by 1930.

Map of where the apple varieties in the atlas came from A map of the world on the Equal Earth projection, with a dot for each variety at its place of origin.

Harvest

Japan grew 658,377 tonnes of apples in 2024, 0.67% of the world's harvest; it ranked 21st among the world's producers.1 FAOSTAT estimated this figure; it is not one Japan reported.

1961 2024
The figures
YearTonnes
2024 658,377
2023 604,000
2022 737,100
2021 661,900
2020 763,300
2019 701,600
2018 756,100
2017 735,200
2016 765,000
2015 811,500
2014 816,300
2013 741,700
2012 793,800
2011 655,300
2010 786,500
2009 845,600
2008 910,700
2007 840,100
2006 831,800
2005 818,900
2004 754,600
2003 842,100
2002 925,800
2001 930,700
2000 799,600
1999 927,700
1998 879,100
1997 993,300
1996 899,200
1995 962,600
1994 989,300
1993 1,011,000
1992 1,039,000
1991 760,300
1990 1,053,000
1989 1,045,000
1988 1,042,000
1987 997,900
1986 986,100
1985 910,300
1984 811,700
1983 1,048,000
1982 924,500
1981 845,700
1980 960,100
1979 852,700
1978 844,000
1977 958,800
1976 879,400
1975 897,900
1974 850,400
1973 962,700
1972 959,100
1971 1,006,000
1970 1,021,000
1969 1,085,000
1968 1,136,000
1967 1,125,000
1966 1,059,000
1965 1,132,000
1964 1,090,000
1963 1,155,000
1962 1,000,000
1961 955,400

Estimated or imputed by FAOSTAT, not a figure the country reported.

Growing regions

  • Aomori Its first three Western apple trees were planted in 1875; in 2025 Aomori grew 61% of Japan's apples
  • Nagano When the early Shōwa depression hit silk, Nagano turned to apples; in 2025 it grew 18% of Japan's crop

Varieties from Japan, oldest first

  • Photograph of Mutsu apples at the National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, on the tree.

    Mutsu

    Raised at Aomori in 1930, a big triploid that turns pink when grown in paper bags; renamed Crispin in Britain in 1968

    Japan, 1930

  • Sekai Ichi

    A very large Aomori apple, often 500 grams or more, named after advertising that called it the biggest in the world

    Japan, 1930

  • Photograph of Tsugaru apples at the National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, one cut across.

    Tsugaru

    Japan's second most planted apple in 2018, from a 1930 Aomori cross; DNA shows its unrecorded father was Jonathan

    Japan, 1930

  • Photograph of Fuji apples at the National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, one cut across.

    Fuji

    Bred at Fujisaki, Aomori, from a 1939 cross; by a 2025 estimate it makes up 70 per cent of China's apples

    Japan, 1939

  • Photograph of Ōrin apples at the National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, one cut across.

    Ōrin

    A Fukushima farmer's apple, first fruiting in 1943, that spread without official registration to rank third in Japan

    Japan, first fruited 1943

  • Senshu

    Bred in Akita from a 1966 cross of Tōkō and Fuji; a parent of Shinano Gold, Akibae and Kiō

    Japan, 1966

  • Shinano Sweet

    A soft, sweet October apple bred in Nagano from Fuji and Tsugaru; fifth in Japan by area in 2018

    Japan, 1978

  • Akibae

    A Nakano grower's 1981 cross of Senshu and Tsugaru; its dark fruit was ignored in Tokyo but welcomed in Kyushu

    Japan, 1981

  • Hokuto

    A triploid Aomori apple registered in 1983 as Fuji × Mutsu; DNA studies have since ruled Mutsu out as its father

    Japan, registered 1983

  • Shinano Gold

    A yellow Nagano apple from a 1983 cross; licensed to South Tyrol in 2016, the first Nagano variety licensed abroad

    Japan, 1983

  • Toki

    A yellow Aomori apple named after its raiser; registered as Ōrin × Kogetsu, its father is now given as Fuji

    Japan, registered 2004

And 27 more in the catalogue, A to Z

Sources

  1. FAOSTAT: Production: Crops and livestock products, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Updated 31 December 2025. Supports: each country's apple harvest by year (item 515, apples, in tonnes, 1961 to 2024), the shares of the world's harvest and the ranks worked out from them, and which figures FAOSTAT estimated or imputed.