The mikan (みかん) is a kind of orange native to Japan, but also grown in China and other countries. It’s traditionally sold around the end of the year in Japan, and you can buy them in large bags or boxes. Does this sound familiar? In North America, it’s very common to buy Mandarin oranges in boxes for Christmas. Well, the mikan is a type of Mandarin orange. It’s also known as tangerine, satsuma orange, or even Japanese Mandarin orange.
With this, I close out the 2012 Picture of the Week. It was one extra, since I did two in one week sometime during the year. I just haven’t figured out when. Picture of the Week is not returning next year. However, I am doing another weekly series that’ll focus on Japan’s 47 prefectures plus the 5 largest cities to round out 52 weeks. I hope you enjoyed all 53 pictures!