Why are 'Mandarin' oranges sometimes called 'Japanese' oranges?

Shouldn't they be called 'Chinese' oranges?

very, very popular.

In the winter, everyone in all of Japan seems to have a bowl of mikan on their living room table.

He says you can call them whatever you want after he sells them. Where have you heard them called Japanese oranges? :shrug:

but more so when I was a kid.

I heard that back in the 20s and 30s, a lot of the oranges came from Japan (wrapped in that distinctive light green tissue paper!). Their popularity spread to the non-Japanese community, partly because as the dock workers were unloading the shipments, they couldn't resist tossing "samples" to eager Vancouver urchins who were watching ...

Though I grew up in Ontario, I associate them with Christmas because our family was Japanese. (I think my aunt used to pick up a bunch of them at the Buddhist temple in town, because she gave them out to us at the family Christmas and New Year's dinners.) My non-Japanese friends generally didn't know about them -- and were surprised that they were so easy to peel.

And they're called "parks".

Where did you learn English?

which is a japanese word if i'm not mistaken, however i never hear them called japanese oranges & i only hear them called mandarin oranges on cans

i ate abt 7 home grown satsumas today, tis indeed the season

In New Zealand, however, I had them all the time. People have road-side stands selling them all over the place and they're awesome. MUCH BETTER than those other little orange things they sell with loose skins in little crates around Christmas time (I can't remember their name). But fresh Mandarins rule.

i don't know if they are grown elsewhere in usa tho

i've grown many in my yard on both north shore and south shore, they can actually tolerate an occasional freeze

But there's too many Republicans down there and I don't think I could stand it. I'll continue to breathe polluted air in Blue Delaware.

i'm just sayin

however sadly my own neighborhood on northshore is prob. 2 to 1 to the dark side, altho the dark side has not much to say lately, since they see all their family members in lakeview etc. getting screwed over and ripped off

to....how can I say it politely...."them." In Delaware, I'm surrounded by Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Dem. Governors in all, 2 Dem. Senators from DE. I likey.

But y'all stuck and surrounded down there have my sympathy and support.