Why do Japanese people peel fruit such as apples, pears, peaches, plums and even grapes, before eating them?

Chemicals.

I've often thought of this too. Wrapping is definitely in the culture. Food that is already wrapped is placed in a plastic bag and this is placed in a larger carrying bag. Gifts and expensive items are beautifully wrapped. Japanese wrapping takes it to a much higher level than we have in Europe or the U.S.A.

I think they see fruit as being "wrapped" in its skin.

Also there is the concept of inside and outside. Outside being dirty and inside kept clean. So shoes are take off going into a house, they are "outside" objects. People from other countries don't necessarily care about it. It's not uncommon to see someone lying on a bed with shoes on in a movie. Some Japanese can be meticulous about "inside things" not getting dirty. I once saw a person carefully place a newspaper on a train platform and then put his attache case on it.

Fruit skin has touched the "outside" and is therefore dirty.

And maybe they are right. a lot of fruit and vegetables are sprayed with pesticides and in that sense are dirty. Perhaps it's better to make sure you know where the produce has come from, then you can decide whether to eat the skin or not.

I am guessing this practice is carried over from the days when food poisoning was a much greater threat than it is today.

Until at least the late 1940s fields in Japan were fertilized with night soil. Sewage pump trucks would regularly remove waste from residential septic tanks and pass it off to the farmers. (I have read that the GHQ under MacArthur put an end to the practice.)

As a result, Montezuma's revenge and other forms of food poisoning were rampant, and people had to thoroughly wash and peel vegetables before eating them.

@BertieWooster

Outside being dirty and inside kept clean

So clean in fact that they may even "inherit" an extra "meat ration"... ;-)

We don't even peel potatoes - just thoroughly wash them (the skin being "good" for one).

I peel all fruit. After seeing them spraying the fruit with chemicals in the store, I realized that the outer layer should be taken off.

Same reason that vegetables are usually raw. The latrines were traditionally placed on higher ground from the fields for "fertilization." This is common in Asia.

Too bad. The pleasure of eating many fruits like grapes is the bitterness and firmness of the skin blending with the smooth sweetness underneath. If you can't experience this, then your palate is clearly being deprivated.

I never peel any vegetables or fruit in Japan. Do people really believe this serves any purpose, other than depriving your body of lots of nutrition? Most vitamins and minerals are concentrated just under the skin. If you really believe pesticides are truly awful, do you really think rinsing with a bit of cold water is going to do anything?!

For sure fruit like apples, peaches, pears need the skins removed sadly because of the spraying of chemicals. But I still cant understand why most Japanese WONT even eat the inner skins of say mikan, crazy!

I never peel any vegetables or fruit in Japan.

Not even bananas, or grapefruit? :-)

I don't peel anything with an edible skin. Make sure everything's properly washed, and enjoy the extra fibre and vitamins.

An apple or a spud deprived of its skin is ... sad.

I particularly like kiwi skin.

I notice in Japan, people peel a banana from the stem down and then they laugh when I peel from the head down. Readers, how do you peel a banana?

From the stem down. Because hopefully I can avoid getting overripe banana on my fingers by levering the stem.

I used to do it from the stem and wondered why my banana peels never looked like the ones in Mario Kart. Then I saw a monkey peel a banana and felt like I might as well learn from that and now I peel it from the head. As a bonus I get to throw the peel to get rid of anybody chasing me.

But seriosly, I never understood why you would leave the skin of a grape. It's so small and fits in your mouth whole. Just eat it. Also, the best way of eating an apple is just bite a chunk out of it hahaha

But to be honest most fruit in Japan even the expensive ones are not that tasty so maybe I just want to get the little extra.

Do you want to eat something where a fly might have peed on? Yep, me neither! So, naturally, you peel that off.

Because they can't afford to hire servants to do it for them. "Peel me a grape!"

Unless it is an imported grape, the skin is tough on them here, but I do not peel them. I chomp and spit out the skin.

Most monkeys I grew up with did not peel their bananas. They ate the skin and all.

I never wash other fruits such as apples. I do not believe that the chemicals are smart enough to stay on the outside, and find things such as pores to get into the inside.

Hairy kiwi make me gag.

Dorian Skin is like, um...no way.

Better living through chemicals.

My doctor here in Japan, who is non-Japanese, told me that he has never seen so many cases of constipation. He puts it down to a severe lack of fibre in the Japanese diet; specifically, polished, white rice and nobody eating the skin on vegetables and fruit.

I strongly suspect the reasons are historical. Post-WW2 Japan's water supply was far from sanitary - and to this day many places retain in-house water purification facilities in the countryside - and washing fruit in dirty water would guarantee a couple of days spent in the toilet. Peeling fruit was a good way to ensure it was safe to eat.

Given that the post-WW2 is still in living memory for many Japanese people, and taking into the account the Japanese tendency to not change anything, it is possible this is a hangover from that period.

Several people mentioned potato skins. Totally agree. Best part of the spud - especially when baked. But most Japanese, including my wife will not touch them. I eat hers. I also eat the salmon skin she leaves on the side of the plate. Lovely!

I don't think Japanese have the slightest consciousness regarding pesticides, etc. They have no idea, for example, that rice paddies, because they are almost never allowed to go fallow for a season or two, require massive amounts of chemical fertilizer because the soil never gets any organic replenishment.

I've asked my wife, who will eat apples and pears either way about the peeling, and she doesn't remember ever having it explained.

Because it is so well-documented as to which fruits and vegetables are most susceptible to chemical leach, we follow these guidelines.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/06/the-12-dirtiest-and-15-cleanest-fruits-and-vegetables/240492/

The Japanese have weak jaws and insist that all of their foods be of a mushy, pablum-like consistency. Their aversion to vegetables with the skin intact is humorous. My aunt always encouraged us to eat the skin because it contains a lot of nutrients. Can anyone confirm or deny?

I wash but don't peel fruits, exception being Banana, pineapple and orange type fruits.

But I keep the peels and reuse them, simple reason the skin has the most fiber and nutrients as well as taste.

For an example: How many dishes call for grated lemon rind but not the juice.

Just my way.

http://kokumin-kaigi.org/wp-content/uploads/Neonicotinoid_e.pdf

Japan is the world’s largest user of agricultural pesticides. According to the OECD Pesticide Reviews 2002, Japan is the world’s largest user of pesticides (per unit area). At 7 times that of the U.S. and 2.5 times that of France, the small nation of Japan is literally covered in pesticide. The nations of the EU in 2007 started regulating the use of organicphosphorous pesticides, however, Japan continues to use large amounts of such pesticides.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17538241

J Toxicol Sci. 2007 May;32(2):179-84, Problems of positive list system revealed by survey of pesticide residue in food, Iwasaki M1, Sato I, Jin Y, Saito N, Tsuda S.

The positive list system became effective from May 29, 2006 to improve the regulation of residual agricultural chemicals (pesticides, feed additives and veterinary drugs) in foods. In accordance with the system, we investigated pesticide residues in 50 agricultural products purchased in Morioka city from March to November 2006. Analyses were performed according to the "Multiresidue Method for Agricultural Chemicals by GC/MS", the Notice of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Five pesticides and two non-agricultural chemicals were detected from 16 samples. Ortho-phenylphenol (OPP) was detected from 8 samples: immature pea, snap bean, kiwi, plain-boiled bamboo shoot, mango, white asparagus, lemon and domestic shiitake mushroom. Maximum residue limits (MRLs) have not been established for these products, and they exceeded the uniform level of 0.01 ppm. DDT was detected from Philippines banana (0.30 ppm) and Korean paprika (0.45 ppm). The residual level in Philippines banana was lower than the MRL, but Korean paprika exceeded its MRL. Chlorpyrifos, Thiabendazole and Imazaril were detected from citrus imported from the U.S.A., but their residue levels were lower than the respective MRLs. Aniline and 2-pyrrolidone were detected from several imported products. ...

Jeff: I looked at the dirty list of fruits and vegetables. Might as well as to just eat meat cave man style.

JapanGalJUN. 02, 2015 - 06:30AM JST Jeff: I looked at the dirty list of fruits and vegetables. Might as well as to just eat meat cave man style.

Not quite sure what you mean by eating meat cave man style unless you are planning become hunter-gatherer.

The point, and I know this is challenge in Japan and difficult for people who simply can't afford it, is to eat only the organic option for certain fruits and vegetables but others are less problematic. Organic bananas are not necessary nor is organic asparagus.

I dunno but I find the skins on some of the usual apple and grape types here rather bitter, which detracts from the actual fruit?

The texture of a peeled grape, peach, nectarine, or apricot has a dreadful mouth feel.

Not only is the skin the most nutritious part of fruit & the best part of the peach, but skins reduce mess by keeping the juices from gushing out of the fruit when any amount of pressure is applied.

They make fruit rinces from things like lemon juice that remove dirt, chemicals, & wax from fruit.