Japanese Grocery Store vs. Base Commissary.

Japan is kind of famous for being expensive (ok, duh).  Add to that a murderous dollar-to-yen exchange rate, and it's enough for any military spouse to make the local base commissary their one-stop shop.  For instance, take these beautiful, perfect, Japanese department store strawberries.  They are probably the most exquisite strawberries in the whole world.  But, let's be honest, the Tofu Fox Family does not need to buy a box of thirty-six strawberries that costs $51.52.  

I don't think the average Japanese grocery shopper is buying these, either.  These
seem to be more in the "gift" category than "grocery list" category.

Wait! Before you stampede to the nearest, tax-free military installation, look!  Here are Japan-grown strawberries that I bought from my local, Taiga grocery store. They are the reddest, sweetest strawberries I have ever eaten.  The conversion here works out to $4.29 for the pack. See?  Much more reasonable!  Still so delicious!  

Little Tofu Fox can plow through this whole thing in about 10 minutes.

And here we have the strawberries from the Commissary.  Shipped from the States, these strawberries are...somewhat red.  There is also some white and brown mixed in.  They are $5.69.  I don't think anything more needs to be said, here.

I was not able to do a cost comparison by weight.  The Japanese strawberries don't have that
labeled, and I don't own a kitchen scale.  My finely-tuned eyeballing skills don't reveal
any major size difference between each country's pack of strawberries.

In this first round of Japanese Grocery Store vs. Base Commissary, the winner is obvious!  Enjoy eating delicious, Japanese strawberries!