27000美元买俩哈密瓜 揭秘日本"奢侈水果"文化
$27,000 melons? Unwrapping the high price of Japan's luxury fruit habit
It looks like a jewelry shop with its high-end exterior. But a peek inside the sparkling glass display cases at any of Sembikiya's Tokyo outlets reveals expensive treasures of a surprising kind.
东京千疋屋水果行店面高档,看起来像是珠宝行.但是透过任意一家千疋屋闪闪发亮的玻璃橱窗,你看到的都是意料之外的珍品.
From heart-shaped watermelons to "Ruby Roman" grapes, which are the size of a ping pong ball, this retailer specializes in selling mouth-watering produce at eye-watering prices.
从心形西瓜到乒乓球大小的"罗马红宝石"葡萄,这家零售店专门销售口感美味但贵到离谱的农产品.
Expensive, carefully-cultivated fruit, however, is not unique to Sembikiya's stores.
不过,这样价格昂贵、精心培育的水果并非是千疋屋水果行独有的.
Across Japan, such products regularly sell for tens of thousands of dollars at auction. In 2016, a pair of premium Hokkaido cantaloupe sold for a record $27,240 (3 million yen).
在日本各地,此类农产品经常在拍卖会上以数万美元的价格卖出.2016年,一对优质的北海道哈密瓜售价创下了27240美元（约合人民币18.7万元）的纪录.
这些水果不仅在日本本土受到追捧,近年来已经远销世界各地.比如,香港连锁超市超生活在今年情人节就推出了单价约150元人民币一颗的"天价草莓".再比如,在莫斯科一家连锁商店内,由日本培育的方形西瓜的价格高达860美元（约合人民币5300元）,是普通西瓜价格的300倍.
"Fruits are treated differently in Asian culture and in Japanese society especially," Soyeon Shim, dean of the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, tells CNN. "Fruit purchase and consumption are tied to social and cultural practices.
威斯康辛麦迪逊大学人类生态学院院长沈素妍告诉CNN,"在亚洲文化中,特别是日本社会,水果是受到特殊对待的.购买和消费水果与社会文化风俗相关."
"It is not only an important part of their diet, but, perhaps more importantly, fruit is considered a luxury item and plays an important and elaborate ritual part in Japan's extensive gift-giving practices."
"这不仅仅是日本人饮食的重要组成部分,或许更重要的是,水果被视为奢侈品,在日本普遍存在的送礼习俗中是一种重要且考究的礼节."
Cultivating high-end produce usually involves meticulous, labor-intensive practices developed by Japanese farmers.
日本果农通常要花费大量时间、精心照料才能培育出这些高端农产品.
"It's hard getting the shape of these strawberries right - they can sometimes turn out like globes," says Okuda Nichio, of his highly-prized Bijin-hime (beautiful princess) strawberries, which he tries to grow "scoop-shaped".
Okuda Nichio种植的美姬草莓备受赞誉,他试图把这种草莓培育成"勺形".他说："要想获得这种形状的草莓非常难——有时候它们会变成球形."
