A Look Into Japan's Luxury Fruit Obsession, Where Melons Sell For Thousands
Prime Fruit In Japan Can Sell For Tens Of Thousands Of Dollars
The demand for unique and luxury fruit in Japan has sent the industry into a craft niche, and the items sold in Japanese fruit parlors and high-end stores is significantly more expensive that those found in normal grocery shops.
However, even these are at the low end of the scale compared to the truly pricey fruit that can only be bought at special auctions. These events will have the very best produce – those fruit that have been deemed the most attractive and are part of the first-harvest, making them even more desirable. One melon managed to attract a world record price of 3 million yen ($27,000) when it went to auction.
Fruit Parlors Are More Like Art Galleries Than Stores
There are several exclusive fruit parlors that can be found in Japan, especially in its capital city Tokyo. These are not just normal vendors that sell produce but are more akin to high-end luxury jewelers or even art galleries. Out of all of these types of stores, Sembikiya is most notable and perhaps the most expensive. The fruit is displayed in special glass casings, soft music plays in the background, and the floors and walls are covered in fine wood and marble. Shopping here for a gift is viewed by the family owners as an experience in of itself, with each of the elements playing an important role.
Fruit Is Major Part Of Gift Giving
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- Bobak Ha'Eri
- Wikimedia Commons
- CC BY 3.0
Like many other cultures around the world, Japan has a strong tradition of gift giving. Known as zōtō in the country, it revolves around giving presents to people or even organizations as a way of showing appreciation. In addition to a heavy roster of national holidays, people in Japan also exchange gifts at particular times that are set aside as festivals to say thanks. Giving fruit is also used as an honorary gesture at temples or in religious rituals. Fruit has become a popular gift for two reasons. It is something that will be used up quickly rather than taking up valuable space, and it is a healthy alternative to other food and drink items. Both are important qualities in Japanese culture, and are reflected in the country's gift-giving values as well.
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Creating New Fruits As Novelty Items Is A Niche Career Path
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The fascination that some sections of Japanese society have with fruit has inspired farmers to create innovative designs. One of the most famous is the square watermelon. While it was originally grown to be a space-saving measure, as it would fit more easily into refrigerators, it has since become a popular novelty item. The extra care that goes into getting these square melons to the market means that they are up to three times as expensive as normal watermelons. This has made it a popular status symbol among those with extra income or who want to appear fashionable.
Fruit Is Regarded As A Luxury Item
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- randylane
- flickr
- CC-BY-NC 2.0
Unlike vegetables, which are used in a huge number of Japanese dishes, fruit has always been considered something of a luxury item within the nation. The fact it is not a common food item means that it has developed a certain quality of reverence that keeps it relatively expensive. "When it comes to fruit it is still a luxurious item, not like vegetables," said fruit business owner Hiroko Ishikawa in an interview with the BBC.
"Vegetables you need for daily life but you can live without eating fruit. So if you are to buy something you might as well buy something that looks good. You don't want scarred or deformed because you are paying for the fruit. It just looks better."
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A Desire For Japanese-Made Goods Increases Prices
It is common in the Asian country for residents to have a strong desire to only want to consume goods manufactured or grown in Japan. This distaste for importing fruit from other regions means that prices for domestically grown fruit has risen dramatically. "It's the mind of Japanese," explained Hiroko Ishikawa, who is a fruit distributor in Japan. "Japanese-made is better." Even regular items such as apples or grapes can cost significantly more than they would in Europe or the United States.
The Appearance Of Luxury Fruit Is Hugely Important
The highly sought-after aesthetic of unusual fruit ensures that it has become desirable for farmers to strive for even more unique looks and bigger sizes. Since the food is seen as a luxury item, it's elevated the status of agriculture in Japan and has turned fruit-farming into a niche, high-end craft. As fruit is commonly gifted for important occasions, it is important that the yields have a pleasing appearance. This has prompted farmers to go to extreme lengths to ensure that the fruit looks good on the shelf. Beyond the square watermelon, Japanese luxury fruit farmers have developed the enormously luscious "ruby grapes," giant apples, and perfectly spherical melons. Stores will generally only carry very uniform-looking fruit; any odd-looking, misshapen items or fruit with marks or bruises is destroyed.
A Huge Amount Of Effort Goes Into Growing The Fruit
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Unlike in other parts of the world where farmers tend to focus on quantity more than quality, Japanese fruit farmers will labor to ensure that they get the most luxurious produce possible. For this process to work effectively, the growers have to limit how much fruit they can create. This gives them the time to produce things like high quality melons.
The fruit will often be grown in special greenhouses that keeps the seeds at a constant temperature and humidity for best results. The fruit will then grow uniformly, with any ones that show even minor deformities plucked. Workers are kept on constant call to adjust heaters and to provide extra water or fertilizer at any time of the day or night depending on the weather.
CNN interviewed a strawberry farmer in Japan named Okuda Nichio, who has spent years attempting to perfect his tennis-ball sized, "scoop-shaped" strawberries, known as "beautiful princess" berries. Nichio admitted,
"It's hard getting the shape of these strawberries right — they can sometimes turn out like globes. It's taken me 15 years to reach this level of perfection."
Perfection In Seeds Is Key To Growing Perfect Fruit
Before farmers even get to the growing stage, there is a stringent process by which they select the seeds that they use. Every single year they breed new strains, taking everything they have learned from the previous 12 months. Any seeds that have any weaknesses are discarded as the farmers try to make constant improvements. This allows them to aim to increase the size of the fruit, make them better looking, and ensure they are ever more tasteful.
The giant, lustrous ruby grapes that cost upwards of $85,000 per bunch are the result of years of meticulous development — they were first put on the market in 2008, but even before that they had been carefully crafted for some time.
The Fruit Sold In Fruit Parlors Is Hand Picked
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As you might expect from such an upmarket business, the Sembikiya parlor and others like it take extreme care in choosing what they sell. Buyers choose only a very select number of fruits for each store that are then whittled down even further by the individual stores. This means that they may only buy a few dozen of each type of fruit every season. A good example of this is the muskmelon. The ones sold at Sembikiya parlors are grown on their own vines, get special hats to protect them from the sun, and even receive massages from workers while they are maturing.
There Are Plenty Of Unique Fruit Sold In Japanese Fruit Parlors
The need to have novelty produce that will appeal to customers as a gift has led to farmers producing all kinds of distinctive fruit that is unique to Japan. These can range from those that have different colors to their standard versions — such as sweet white strawberries — to those that come in a wide range of different shapes. As well as square watermelons, there are some that look like pyramids and even love hearts.
