By: Rob Adams
05/18/2012 01:41 PM ET
One unidentified Japan resident has paid 1 million yen, or the equivalent of $12,500 American, for a set of edible cantaloupe melons at an auction at the Sapporo Central Wholesale Market in Hokkaido.
This is a country where inflation already causes extremely high prices for everything. For example, a single apple goes for $5 and a pack of 20 cherries goes for more than $100, but that doesn’t compare to the price paid for the top-grade Yubari melons that were available on the first day of the country’s buying season.
Yubari cantaloupes are named for the small town in Japan for which they are grown in, they are totally round and patterned rind.
For decorative appeal, the stem is left on top of them; these melons are considered to be a sign of prestige throughout the country.
Some Japanese people present Yubari melons as gifts during Chugen, which is a holiday were people give their superiors and acquaintances presents.
Though the Yubari melons sold at this year’s auction seems a bit much at one million yen, it is far from the past record paid for two melons when in 2008 one buyer paid 2.5 million yen for the fruit, the previous year the melons were sold for 2 million yen.