Want Some Watermelon?

I’ve mentioned before, the grocery store in the mall near our apartment is quite fancy and features organic and high quality merchandise. There is a special produce section devoted to items from Japan. These Japanese items are always more expensive than the China grown produce and often more expensive than the stuff imported from the US, Europe, or Australia. That said, I was shocked to see the price of the Japanese watermelons this week. The price for a basketball-sized melon was HK$329 or US$42! Who buys these things, especially when the store had China watermelons the same size for about US$4.00. Fresher produce can be purchased in the street market for approximately half the cost of this high-end store. So the choice is an air-shipped US$42 watermelon from Japan, or walk 15 minutes to the street market and get a locally grown one for US$2.00 max.