Pair of Japan melons fetch $15,700
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Like wine, fruit is a status symbol in Japan. Shoppers there already pay a hefty price for melon, but two that sold Friday in Tokyo went for $15,730, one of the highest prices ever paid for cantaloupe.
A pair of cantaloupe melons sold at auction in Japan on Friday for 1.6 million yen ($15,730), one of the highest prices ever paid for the coveted orange-fleshed fruit.
A local fruit wholesaler snapped up the 3.7-kilogramme (8.1-pound) Yubari melons at the high-end fruit and vegetable sale, which took place on the first day of the season for the prestigious melons.
It was the third-highest price ever paid for the luxury melon brand and cost the equivalent of splashing out on a small car.
In a country where a single apple can cost more than $5 and a presentation pack of 20 cherries sells for over $100, Japanese shoppers are used to paying high prices for their fruit.
But the eye-watering figures paid at the Sapporo Central Wholesale Market in northern Hokkaido reflect buyers' desire for prestige.
Yubari melons are considered a status symbol in Japan like a fine wine, with many buyers presenting them as a gift to friends and colleagues.
A pair sold at auction for a record 2.5 million yen in 2008, partially due to a degree of sympathy for the town of Yubari that produces the melons and which went bust in 2007.
The best-quality Yubari melons are perfect spheres with a smooth, evenly patterned rind. A T-shaped stalk is left on the fruit, which is usually sold in an ornate box.
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I thought it was a different kind of melon. lol
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Originally posted by BadzMaro:
I thought it was a different kind of melon. lol
Some weird looking kind?
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Come come have some.....
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Originally posted by NeverSayGoodBye:
Some weird looking kind?
The soft and bouncy kind.
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Originally posted by BadzMaro:
The soft and bouncy kind.
Sounds like fishball to me
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Originally posted by NeverSayGoodBye:
Sounds like fishball to me
But a fishball is not a melon.
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Originally posted by BadzMaro:
But a fishball is not a melon.
But your descriptions of melon as "soft and bouncy" doesn't make sense. It must be something else
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It was the third-highest price ever paid for the luxury melon brand and cost the equivalent of splashing out on a small car.
Bah, our COE is already higher than that
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Originally posted by NeverSayGoodBye:
But your descriptions of melon as "soft and bouncy" doesn't make sense. It must be something else
lol... yes it's something else, just not a fish ball. ...xD
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Originally posted by BadzMaro:
lol... yes it's something else, just not a fish ball. ...xD
Pffft, this is wat u meant la~
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Originally posted by ^Acid^ aka s|aO^eH~:
Pffft, this is wat u meant la~lol ! xD~~