![]() 在日本有这样一种商店,乍一看“高大上”的橱窗让你以为它是一家珠宝店。仔细一看,才发现,原来那些亮丽的“珠宝”竟然是水果。但再一看价牌上挂着好几个零的标价,你又发现,其实管这些水果叫“珠宝”也不为过。“奢侈水果”文化在日本相当流行,原因究竟是什么呢?一起来看一下吧。
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.
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.
Expensive, carefully-cultivated fruit, however, is not unique to Sembikiya's stores.
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).
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.
"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."
Cultivating high-end produce usually involves meticulous, labor-intensive practices developed by Japanese farmers.
"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".
"It's taken me 15 years to reach this level of perfection."
His largest tennis-ball sized strawberries, of which he only produces around 500 a year, usually sell for more than 500,000 yen($4,395) each.
Rarity is a tactic also employed by the producers of Japan's "Ruby Roman" grapes, who offer just 2,400 bunches of the large red fruit each year.
"These grapes look big and red - like a ruby. It's been a painstaking process to achieve that red color," Ruby Roman spokesman Hirano Keisuke says.
In southwest Japan last year, a supermarket paid 1.1 million yen ($9,700) for a first-harvest bunch of "Ruby Roman" at auction.
Holding just 30 grapes in total, that record-breaking bunch essentially sold for $320 per grape.
So why are Japanese consumers willing to pay so much for their fruit?
Whereas in many Western cultures apples and oranges are prized for their nutritional value, the Japanese see fruit in almost spiritual terms, regularly offering it to the gods on their butsudan - or home altars - and Buddhist steps.
For this reason, high-end fruit has come to be viewed as an important symbol of respect.
"People purchase these expensive fruits to demonstrate how special their gifts are to the recipients, for special occasions or for someone socially important, like your boss," says Shim, who has conducted extensive researched into Japan's luxury fruit market.
For some consumers, a high price tag adds prestige and signifies quality.
Although not all Japanese consumers buy expensive fruit to gift -- many appreciate its rarefied taste.
But while many Japanese extol the exceptional flavors of these fruit, Cecilia Smith Fujishima, a lecturer in comparative culture at Shirayuri University in Tokyo, says it's often too sweet for her Australian-raised taste buds. (责任编辑:voa365) |