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$2,250 for a bunch of grapes

If you thought last year’s record $900 price for the first bunch of “Ruby Roma” premium grapes was ridiculous, your stomach may turn upon hearing that this year’s first bunch was auctioned off for an astounding 210,000 yen ($2,250)!

Here is a video of the grapes (which are about $70 each, if you do the math):

The grapes were purchased by the owner of a restaurant/lodging house in Ishikawa Prefecture who hoped that the news reports about the auction would give some attention to his business.

The other bunches of grapes in the batch sold for an average price of 71,000 yen ($760) each.

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14 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - July 15, 2009 at 9:10 am

Categories: Japanese Food, Odd / Strange Tags: food, grapes, japan

comeon

Come on Japan, Fruits/ foods should not be a luxury…Fruits should be available for all at low prices, why cos it’s healthy it should be cheaper than a bag of chips.

weirdo

Nobody’s making you buy the more expensive fruits.

Kitty

No wonder he paid so much….the guy looks like he has DOWN SYNDROME!!!!
http://www.hormel.com Vonskippy

Apparently no where in Japan do they teach Marketing 101.

weirdo

Huh? Are you telling me you can sell a grape for more than $70 each if you take a marketing class? Amazing.

anon

if you can sell a single grape for ~$70, you are the master of marketing.

Sandy

That man is going to kill everyone.
Level3

You miss the point.

For 210,000 he bought himself a spot in the news and even got TV.
That’s cheap advertising.

He got a bargain.

http://witzl.blogspot.com/ Mary Witzl

You beat me to it: I’d say he got a good deal here too. And maybe those grapes even taste good.
http://www.hormel.com VonSkippy

Advertising is only “cheap” if it has a good conversion rate.

Somehow I doubt having tv/web spots about a guy flaky enough to piss away 210,000 on a bunch of grapes is going to convert enough new customers into not only traveling to see this crazy guy but also to buy something.

That’s alot of “buy somethings” required (since it’s the profit on those “somethings” not the price) to make up 210,000 yen.

I guess it’s possible – but I’d need to see the balance sheet for this little “marketing” adventure before retracting my “that’s stupid” statement.

majiimeaussie

At least he got the advertising for buying 210,000 yen grapes. What about the other paying 71,000 yen that get no advertising.

Sandy

Can I ask why fruits such as grapes and watermelons are so rare in Japan? Is it just the climate?

helical

It’s the result of the trend of Japanese consumers demanding perfection from their products, and a willingness to pay a premium for the best of the best.

The farmers take exquisite care of their crop, pampering it with individual covers, culling even slightly small/odd-shaped fruits, until they get a small amount of perfectly shaped fruits that go for exorbitant prices instead of a truckload of okay-looking fruits that are relatively cheap.
This trend is more pronounced with fruit, but it’s present with vegetables as well.

I believe fruit was originally rare in Japan to begin with, so the culture of cherishing fruit as a expensive luxury was already in place, and farmers of the 20th century took advantage of this.

Togu

this guy looks weird

$2,250 for a bunch of grapes

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