PM Kishida treated to cantaloupe melons

PM Kishida treated to cantaloupe melons

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida eats some cantaloupe melon from Hokota, Ibaraki Prefecture near Tokyo, during a meeting with the city's mayor at his office in Tokyo on May 8, 2024.

Expensive melons

Expensive melons

SAPPORO, Japan - Kazuo Watarai (R) from wholesaler Kurashige Shoten K.K. and Yubari Mayor Naomichi Suzuki hold a pair of Yubari melons, a type of premium orange-fleshed cantaloupe, after the company bought the fruits for 1 million yen (about $12,350) in the current harvest season's first auction at the Sapporo City Central Wholesale Markets in Hokkaido on May 13, 2011. Watarai said his company based in Sapporo will give the fruits as a gift to an association of retail companies

Pair of Yubari melons sold for 500,000 yen

Pair of Yubari melons sold for 500,000 yen

SAPPORO, Japan - A pair of Yubari melons, a premium orange-fleshed variety of cantaloupe from Hokkaido, are displayed in a souvenir shop in Sapporo on May 15 after being sold for 500,000 yen in the first auction of this year's harvest season at Sapporo City Central Wholesale Markets. They sold for one-fifth of last year's price of 2.5 million yen per pair.

Pair of Yubari melons sell for record high 2.5 mil. yen

Pair of Yubari melons sell for record high 2.5 mil. yen

SAPPORO, Japan - A pair of Yubari melons (foreground), a premium orange-fleshed cantaloupe variety from Hokkaido, are sold for 2.5 million yen in this harvest season's first auction held on May 13 at the Sapporo City Central Wholesale Markets. The price is a record high, surpassing the 2 million yen a pair fetched last year.

Pair of Yubari melons sold for 500,000 yen

Pair of Yubari melons sold for 500,000 yen

SAPPORO, Japan - A pair of Yubari melons, a premium orange-fleshed variety of cantaloupe from Hokkaido, are displayed in a souvenir shop in Sapporo on May 15 after being sold for 500,000 yen in the first auction of this year's harvest season at Sapporo City Central Wholesale Markets. They sold for one-fifth of last year's price of 2.5 million yen per pair. (Kyodo)

Pair of Yubari melons sell for record high 2.5 mil. yen

Pair of Yubari melons sell for record high 2.5 mil. yen

SAPPORO, Japan - A pair of Yubari melons (foreground), a premium orange-fleshed cantaloupe variety from Hokkaido, are sold for 2.5 million yen in this harvest season's first auction held on May 13 at the Sapporo City Central Wholesale Markets. The price is a record high, surpassing the 2 million yen a pair fetched last year. (Kyodo)

Expensive melons

Expensive melons

SAPPORO, Japan - Kazuo Watarai (R) from wholesaler Kurashige Shoten K.K. and Yubari Mayor Naomichi Suzuki hold a pair of Yubari melons, a type of premium orange-fleshed cantaloupe, after the company bought the fruits for 1 million yen (about $12,350) in the current harvest season's first auction at the Sapporo City Central Wholesale Markets in Hokkaido on May 13, 2011. Watarai said his company based in Sapporo will give the fruits as a gift to an association of retail companies (Kyodo)