Fruit is generally expensive in Japan and the locals seem to buy the fruits only as luxury gifts. After the Watermelon auctioned for $6,100 and the $2,000 mangoes, a bunch of grapes fetched a record $900 (for 35 grapes).

“We believe the price was probably a record high,” said local agricultural official Hirofumi Isu. Of course, as a French guy, I treasure grapes, but still… $26 per grape !

That’s how much one hotel manager in Japan paid for a bunch of Ruby Roman grapes, though, at an auction in Japan’s northwestern Ishikawa region where the grapes have been under state development since 1994.

The average price for the Ruby Roman grapes at Monday’s auction was about $240.

This guy purchased the grapes to serve his hotel guests. These tomato-colored grapes are supposedly sweet, refreshing and very well-balanced.

Japanese are often willing to pay top prices for high-end fruits, it is considered prestigious to be the first ones to buy the very first fruit of the year.