News On Japan

Pair of high-end persimmons fetch Y540,000 at season's 1st auction

Oct 27, 2017 (Japan Today) - A pair of high-end persimmons harvested in central Japan fetched 540,000 yen at the season's first auction at a local wholesale market on Thursday.

The cultivar, developed by the Gifu prefectural government over 10 years and put on the market last year, is crispy and has a sugar content of at least 18 percent compared to the around 16 percent of other products, according to a local agricultural cooperative.

Last year, a pair of the premium persimmons were sold for 324,000 yen.

These top quality products, including a persimmon from the same harvest with a sugar content of more than 25%, are being sold at a branch of Matsuzakaya department store in Nagoya. A total of 2,000 of the persimmons are expected to be shipped by early November, with the retail price starting from 1,000 yen per piece.

High-end persimmons priced at more than 10,000 yen for a set of three will be sold in golden gift boxes.

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has drawn criticism over a social media post describing five hours of sleep as a rare luxury, as the extended Diet session prepares to begin Upper House debate on a controversial bill to establish secondary capitals outside Tokyo.

Japan began applying a new numerical alcohol threshold for dangerous driving offenses on July 21, introducing a clearer standard for cases involving impaired driving that could lead to fatal accidents.

Breathtaking 4K footage filmed from a helicopter offers a sweeping aerial view of Mount Fuji and its majestic surrounding landscape.

A covert network of shuttle tankers is carrying crude through the increasingly dangerous Strait of Hormuz as renewed fighting between the United States and Iran disrupts shipping and raises concerns over how Japan will secure the oil it needs.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko has criticized moves by Japanese and Ukrainian companies to cooperate on drone technology, warning that such ties would be regarded by Moscow as a "clear hostile act."

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Society NEWS

A 27-year-old police officer arrested after crashing into a utility pole in Hiroshima was found to have been driving under the influence, with a blood test detecting nearly three times the legal alcohol limit.

A police officer fired a warning shot into the air after a 42-year-old woman approached officers while pointing a kitchen knife at them on a street in Eniwa, Hokkaido, on July 17.

A 45-year-old man was arrested early July 20 after allegedly crashing a passenger car into a convenience store in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, and walking around the parking lot carrying a kitchen knife and a golf club.

A 42-year-old man was arrested after allegedly driving under the influence and intentionally ramming a motorcycle in Togitsu, Nagasaki Prefecture, leaving its rider seriously injured.

More than a dozen people were injured after a massive rope suddenly snapped during a tug-of-war at a festival in Kitami, Hokkaido, sending participants falling backward onto an asphalt road.

A public housing complex in Aichi Prefecture where about 70% of households are occupied by foreign residents is showing signs of improvement after introducing multilingual communication, foreign-led neighborhood activities and a 3,000-yen fine for residents who skip community cleaning duties.

A fire that broke out at the long-established Echigo Tsurukame sake brewery in a densely populated residential district of Niigata City on July 19 destroyed the brewery and spread to at least six nearby homes, with firefighters still unable to declare the blaze fully extinguished by noon on July 20.

Two people found dead in a collapsed home following a landslide in Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture, have been identified as a married couple in their 60s who lived at the property, city officials said.