It’s pear season! - or, more precisely, the season for Asian pears (nashi, 梨). The kanji occurs occasionally in family names such as 梨坂 and 梨本. Probably due to some ancient marketing ploy, Western pears are generally referred to in Japanese as “la France” (ラフランス), and the two are not related. The nashi, common from Nepal throughout East Asia, is round and crisp, much more like an apple, and generally peeled before eaten.
Unfortunately for many lowland nashi farmers, elevated heat levels have resulted in an historically high level of blight this year, with some farmers losing up to 80% of their crop, as this Kumanichi article explains. http://kumanichi.com/news/local/main/20161018001.xhtml
A common joke is that nashi are healthy because they are low calorie (a play on the homonyms 梨 and 無 - “nothing”), and, sadly for many farmers, it seems the latter will be their incomes this year. - William
