TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Chiayi County officials went to Japan this week for a new pineapple sales campaign, opening the effort with an event at an Aruk supermarket in Yamaguchi Prefecture and linking the promotion to a wider set of cultural and sports exchanges.

County officials cast pineapple as one of Chiayi’s best-known export fruits and used tastings, store sales, and local media coverage to put it in front of Japanese consumers, per CNA. Magistrate Weng Chang-liang (翁章梁) attended the launch and personally greeted shoppers trying the fruit.

Chiayi shipped 550 metric tons of Golden Diamond and Milk pineapples to Japan in 2023, 750 tons in 2024, and 700 tons in 2025 in spite of weather setbacks, according to the report.

The delegation folded in a cultural element to its Yamaguchi outreach by holding a sky-lantern wish ceremony. It also stopped by Hofu Tenmangu Shrine, where Chiayi donated an Alishan cypress offertory box last year. Officials later met basketball players from Yamaguchi Patsfive in Ube, swapping pineapples for a commemorative jersey.

Chiayi’s agriculture department said it will keep building its presence in Japan through retail partnerships, brand promotion, and other exchange activities.