Pair of melons sold for 2.5 million yen

Thought that the 200,000 yen paid for some mangoes in April was ridiculous? How about 2.5 million yen for a pair of melons:

A pair of Yubari melons, a premium orange-fleshed cantaloupe variety from Hokkaido, sold for 2.5 million yen in this harvest season’s first auction held Tuesday at the Sapporo City Central Wholesale Markets.

The price is a record high, surpassing the 2 million yen a pair fetched last year, according to Yubari’s agricultural cooperative. The winning bidder of what was considered the best pair Tuesday was Ibi, a Sapporo-based dealer of seafood products and local souvenir goods.

“We wanted to provide an upbeat topic of conversion to Yubari, which has been hit by a spate of bleak news,” an official of the company said. Yubari, a former coal-mining town with a population of around 12,500, is undergoing severe fiscal rehabilitation measures after it was effectively declared bankrupt last year.

The melons were put up for sale at 1.25 million yen a piece at a retail outlet of the company. “While it is not something in the reach of an ordinary citizen, it is a feat to our eyes,” said Hisako Sato, a 70-year-old woman who was shopping near the market.