Strawberries at ¥270,000 (about $1,800) for 12. A single bunch of grapes at ¥1 million (about $6,700). A melon at ¥2.5 million (about $17,000) apiece. Japan has a market where fruit is treated like jewelry. Why does such a market exist in Japan? Behind it lie a gift-giving culture like nowhere else in the world, the craftsmanship of farmers, and clever brand strategy.

What Are "Berrytsu," the 12 Strawberries at ¥270,000?

On December 5, 2025, at an auction held at the Oita City Public Wholesale Market, a paulownia box of 12 "Berrytsu" brand strawberries from Oita Prefecture was bought for ¥270,000 (about $1,800). That works out to about ¥22,500 (about $150) per berry.

Berrytsu is an original variety that Oita Prefecture spent eight years developing, with the formal name "Oita No. 6." The name is a coinage combining "strawberry" and "sweets," carrying the meaning of "a strawberry as sweet as sweets." Its breeding draws on popular varieties, the high-sugar "Tochiotome," the long-lasting "Sagahonoka," and the fragrant "Kaorino," inheriting the strengths of each.

Vivid red color, a neat conical shape, high sugar, and rich fragrance. Berrytsu combines all these traits, but there is a special circumstance behind this ¥270,000 price.

Why Does Fruit Get a ¥270,000 Price? The "Goshugi Souba" Mechanism

According to Professor Fumio Fukuda, who specializes in fruit trees at Okayama University, this high price for Berrytsu comes from a Japanese market practice called "goshugi souba" (celebratory market price).

Goshugi souba is a custom in which, at the first auction of the new year or the first shipment of a season, goods trade at amounts far above the normal market price, to bring good luck or for publicity effect. This Berrytsu, too, was auctioned to coincide with an "in-season declaration" event at the Oita market, so it was traded at what amounts to a "celebration price."

This mechanism is widely seen in Japan's agricultural markets, and record "celebration prices" have made news in the past.

  • Yubari melon (Hokkaido): ¥2.5 million (about $17,000) for a single melon at the 2019 first auction
  • Ruby Roman (grapes from Ishikawa): ¥1 million (about $6,700) for a bunch in 2017
  • Taiyo no Tamago (mango from Miyazaki): ¥500,000 (about $3,300) for a pair in 2017

Luxury Fruit as a "Billboard": The Aim of Regional Branding

The ultra-expensive fruit that makes news through goshugi souba plays a bigger role as a "billboard" that raises the image of an entire producing region than as a source of sales itself.

Professor Fukuda explains it this way. Only a tiny fraction of the harvest is sorted and shipped as luxury goods, and what ordinary consumers get is everyday-priced product. But once the news that "that region's top-grade fruit traded for ¥270,000" spreads, a positive image arises that the region's regular product "must surely be delicious too." As a result, the market price of the region's fruit overall is raised.

In other words, a ¥270,000 strawberry is both a "product to eat" and an "investment" that raises the value of the entire region. This is a big reason farmers and agricultural cooperatives aim for high goshugi souba prices year after year.

Why Fruit Is "Special" in Japan

So why does such an ultra-luxury fruit market hold up in Japan? Behind it is a positioning of fruit that is fundamentally different from the West.

The Place of Fruit in Food Culture

In Europe, hard water was common and its quality as drinking water was limited, so fruit was long treated as an everyday necessity as a source of vitamins and hydration. It was also important as preserved food, in jams, juices, and wine.

Japan, on the other hand, had abundant rainfall and easy access to good water, and an environment where enough vitamins could be taken from vegetables and wild plants. So fruit came to be seen less as "essential on the table" and more as "something special that adds a plus to one's diet." It is premised on being eaten fresh, with post-harvest texture and freshness valued extremely highly. Fruit has a positioning as a "premium food" to begin with.

Gift-Giving Culture

Japan has two major gift seasons: "Ochugen" (a summer gift) and "Oseibo" (a winter gift). It is a culture of giving form to gratitude toward people who have helped you, such as superiors, business partners, mentors, doctors, and relatives.

At these times, the choice of gift is said to be "a gauge of one's taste and means." It is considered proper to give something a bit rich rather than something eaten often day to day, and seasonal fruit is ideal as an "elegant gift that evokes the season." Fruit also has the practical advantage of taking no space once consumed.

At the long-established luxury fruit store "Sembikiya" (founded in 1834), 80 to 90% of the fruit sold is said to be bought as gifts.

Religious and Spiritual Background

In Japan's Buddhist and Shinto traditions, fruit has held an important place as an offering to gods and buddhas. The custom of placing seasonal fruit on a household Buddhist altar remains widespread today. In earlier times, fruit was used as a tribute to one's lord and as an offering to gods and buddhas, and this history gives fruit its standing as a "gift that shows respect."

The Craftsmanship That Produces a "Miracle Berry"

The reason Japan's luxury fruit is expensive is not only cultural background. That farmers' cultivation techniques are extremely advanced is also a big factor.

Japan's farmland averages about 1.9 hectares (about 4.7 acres), less than one-hundredth of the U.S. average (about 198 hectares, about 490 acres). And under the Agricultural Land Act, farmland must in principle be cultivated by its owner. This small-scale farming is a disadvantage in terms of efficiency, but it enables precise cultivation with care lavished on each berry.

For premium musk melons, only one fruit is left on a single plant, concentrating all the nutrients. Some farmers even do manual pollination, sunlight management, precise control of temperature and humidity, and massaging of the fruit. Only those that meet strict standards of sugar, shape, color, and size are shipped as "luxury goods," and their pass rate is extremely low.

This culture of "picking only the best" produces strawberries at thousands to tens of thousands of yen each, and grapes at ¥1 million a bunch.

Inbound and Overseas Demand: Japan's Luxury Fruit Goes Global

In recent years, Japan's luxury fruit has drawn attention from overseas too. The sight of foreign tourists astonished at department-store fruit counters is familiar on social media, and there are cases of wealthy buyers in the Middle East ordering top-grade fruit at high unit prices. Exports, mainly to Asia, are also expanding, and Japanese fruit is becoming one symbol of "Japan quality."

At the same time, amid rising prices, it is also true that fruit easily becomes a "target for saving" for ordinary domestic consumers. A pack of supermarket strawberries now costs close to ¥1,000, and quite a few voices say it is hard to reach for. How this polarization, between a luxury fruit market and ordinary people drifting away from fruit, will change Japan's fruit culture going forward is worth watching.

Fruit as "Art," Rare Even Worldwide

Behind strawberries at ¥270,000 for 12 lie Japan's distinctive gift culture, farmers' craftsman-like cultivation techniques, fierce brand competition among producing regions, and the unique market practice of goshugi souba. Even seen globally, a country that treats fruit this much as "art" is rare.

What is fruit like in your country? Is there a culture of giving fruit as a gift? If there were a strawberry at $150 each, would you want to try it? Please tell us in the comments.

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