Fresh Fruit and Vegetable prices?

I was wondering about the prices of fresh fruit and veges. I know I can eat on the cheap at noodle shops and whatnot, but I know I'll need to get some fresh food in me as well. Are the prices comparable to the states(taking into consideraton whats in season of course)?

In my area, produce is more expensive than in the USA, and I lived in the Bay Area for 7 years, where the cost of living is pretty high.

I buy apples for breakfast each week, and they are 99 yen each. A package of 4 small carrots also costs 99 yen. There is a fairly wide selection of produce items in one of the larger markets I go to, but they are more expensive than in the USA.

I haven't had too much of a problem adjusting my diet here. My food budget isn't too much higher than in the USA, but I couldn't afford to make a decent sized salad here every night either.

My salary is really low though, so others may have different opinions.

7-11 lawson and the like will charge you quite a bit.

Easily $1.50 for one banana, $1+ for an apple, etc.

Avoid Tokyo Station stores as well - they're selling up to $30 apples and other fruits, mostly as gifts.

supermarkets are decent, but generally expect most fruits to go for 2x+ the normal price until you've found a resonable supermarket. Also, some fruits are never really cheap - melons - because they're mostly used as gifts. In general, the lack of significant imports means the fruit prices are expensive since many are home-grown and raised.

Pretty much most things green and fruity will cost you until you find a decent supermarket, and then, you'll be suprised now and then. Definitely nowhere as cheap as the crazy low-priced Chinese/Asian supermarkets here in Los Angeles! (then again, some of these supermarkets in LA have been shut down due to food violations.....)

The lack of lots of vegis/fruits + high sodium Japanese foods is one reason they've got a high colon cancer rate, too.....

Now, as for crazy prices, talking about rice ....

Thanks for the tips! As this is a vacation I won't mind paying a bit more for the food-though Ill keep my eye out for markets and now I atleast know how much things should run me, this way I won't think a $4 apple is normal...

Actually $4 can be the regular price for higher quality apples.

Supermarkets typically carry at least 3 classes of fruits: regular, higher quality, and packaged for gifts (which are the usually the high quality fruits put in nice boxes).

So for say 500 yen this is what you could typically buy:

Regular class:
3-4 apples
10 mikan
3-4 peaches
1 med bunch of grapes
1 basket of strawberries
5 bananas
1 mango
2 pears
3-4 nashi
3-4 oranges

High class:
1-2 apples
1-2 oranges
1-2 nashi
1-2 peaches
3-5 mikan

Melons are start around 1000 and can go as high as 20000yen

If its gift boxed be prepared to pay 2-5 times the per piece price.

Typical vegetable prices are a little lower than fruits. Per piece prices are typical, and they sometimes have different qualities of vegetable.

For example for roughly 125 yen you can typically buy:

1 carrot
1 high quality celery stalk
1 bunch regular celery
1 tomato
2 potatoes
1 head of lettuce
1 daikon
2 onions
1 avocado
1 cabbage

Also prices vary regionally and seasonally but this is as rough average of what I pay where I live.