Mouth-watering fruits in Japan at heart-stopping prices

For connoisseurs of eye-wateringly priced
fruit, Japan is the place to be. People often buy top-notch fruit such as melons for gifts,
and virgin batches can fetch extraordinary prices, making national headlines and creating
a lucrative market for fruit boutiques despite Japan's sluggish economy. Why are the Japanese
willing to fork out so much money for their fruits? That's because the first batch of
fruit and other foods is considered good luck in Japan.
Here are four fruits that can command prices several times the price of a luxurious meal. 1.

Ruby Roman grapes.
This bunch of 26 Ruby Roman grapes was the highest-priced at this year's first auction
in Kanazawa, 300km north-west of Tokyo. The previous record, last year, was 550,000
yen. Each berry weighs at least 20g and is the size of a ping-pong ball, said the local
board of agriculture. Winning bidder Masayuki Hirai, the head chef
of the Nikko hotel in Kanazawa, told media that he was under strict orders to secure
the grapes, as local tourism chiefs are eager to capitalise on a new train line to the area.
"With the opening of the Hokuriku bullet train line, I was told to win at any cost," he said.

2. Yubari melons.
In May, a pair of Yubari melons from Hokkaido - considered a status symbol - was snapped
up for a jaw-dropping 1.5 Million yen. A Sapporo-based intermediate wholesaler made the purchase,
according to an official at the Sapporo Central Wholesale Market.
Although the price tag could be seen on a new car, it was a bargain compared to last
year, when a box of two melons sold for US$20,670, the highest bid ever, reported the Wall Street
Journal in a blog. The price of yubari melons varies depending
on their size and class.

One can go for more than US$100 in Tokyos department stores. 3. Mangoes.
A Japanese department store in Fukuoka, Kyushus largest city,thought nothing of shelling out
300,000 yen last year for a pair of pristine mangoes grown in southern Japan.
Mangoes sold under the Taiyo no Tamago (Egg of the Sun) label are selected based on strict
criteria. Each must weigh more than 350 g and have a high sugar content, according to
the Miyazaki Agricultural Economic Federation.

4. Odd-shaped watermelons.
Square and even heart-shaped watermelons are all the rage in Japan. Over at the Shibuya
Nishimura luxury fruit shop in downtown Tokyo, a cube-shaped watermelon, about the size of
a babys head, sells for 12,960 yen..