About 550 cartons of Jazz apples from the orchards of New Zealand’s Hawkes Bay flew to Tokyo for Japan’s annual springtime holiday, Golden Week.
Falling between late April and early May, Golden Week is a time for celebration, which includes the new season’s fruit, according to a news release from Auckland, New Zealand, apple exporter T&G Global.
Sarah McCormack, T&G director of category-apples, said in the release that she expects more than 150,000 cartons of Jazz apples to be exported this season — mostly by ship and some, like this order, by air.
The Japan-bound apples were kept at 0 degrees in the cargo hold of the Air New Zealand Boeing-787-9 Dreamliner, which left Auckland the morning of April 17, carrying about 10 tons of Jazz apples to Narita airport in Tokyo.
On June 28 each year, Japan celebrates a Jazz Apple Anniversary Day.
“Japanese apple lovers have really embraced Jazz apples since they were introduced to consumers in 2011, and we’re looking forward to sharing this special fruit with Jazz fans and introducing it to new consumers this year,” McCormack said in the release. “With the first of the air freighted fruit safely on board, our apples can be on shelf and enjoyed by our Japanese customers within 24 hours.”
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