Value Village ／ Everyday know-how
This answer is a draft. It stays unpublished until legal review and source verification are complete.
*Shun* is usually translated as "in season." The translation is accurate and still loses something — and the something is measurable.
A season lasts months. A shun can last a couple of weeks. During that window arrivals at wholesale markets peak and prices fall — which is why the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market's monthly statistics, and ALIC's "Vegetan" price-tracking system, are the closest thing to an official record of shun.
The word is also used in ordinary supermarket signage. It is everyday vocabulary with a data trail.
[Verify] If specific foods or months are named in the published article, take figures from the sources below and cite month and year.
It marks a peak inside a season, not the season itself. The word points at a narrow window.
Some foods are described as having an early (*hashiri*), a peak (*sakari*) and a late (*nagori*) window, each valued differently. The idea has gradations.
Abundance, price and the way a food is cooked all shift with it. Cooking methods change with the window, not only the menu.
It is used in conversation and on shop signs. Anyone shopping uses it.
Availability widened; the peak did not disappear. What changed is that noticing it is now optional.
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https://www.shijou.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/torihiki/geppo/
https://vegetan.alic.go.jp/price-trends/changes-arrivals-prices.html
https://www.maff.go.jp/j/keikaku/syokubunka/
⚠️ Editorial note: the source URLs above were identified by search. Our working environment cannot reach go.jp domains, so the contents have not been checked against the text. Verify every source before publication and record who checked it and when.
What we share here are ideas and everyday practices passed down among people living in Japan, together with general information drawn from public sources. They are not official recommendations, and they are not professional instruction. Practices vary between households and regions.
This is general information. Results vary from person to person and depend on your own conditions and surroundings.
Please decide for yourself, using your own judgement, whether any of this suits your situation. We cannot accept responsibility for any damage, loss or injury arising from following this article.
Some ingredients must be cooked thoroughly. If you have allergies, please check the ingredients carefully.
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