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To: Elroy Jetson who wrote (19318)	10/3/2004 8:17:55 AM
From: Wyätt Gwyön	Respond to of 110194

i think the thing to keep in mind about the $55 melon is that it is not meant to be a regular consumer item, anymore than you would compare a $2 bottle of wino juice to some $100 bottle of fine wine. you are talking about a special class of very high-quality fruit (grown in hot-houses in Japan, i believe, where they can maintain rigid quality controls) which is purchased expressly for gift-giving. the fact that it costs $55, or $100 or whatever, is really the point--when you are in a position where you are obligated to give somebody (such as your boss) a gift (a frequent situation in Japan), there is a certain price range you will shop in. obviously some people want to shop in the $50-100 price range. the person receiving this (individually wrapped, maybe boxed) piece of fruit knows how much it costs--they know you didn't go to Costco and pay $2.50 for it. and rather than give somebody a tie or something they might not like, everybody likes a nice piece of fruit (Harry and David's is popular in the US for the same reason, though the pricing is less extreme). the wife can slice it up like sashimi for a nice appetizer while you and yer buds watch the sumo match. actually, i think "gift-class" fruit is a wonderful concept. that's not to say Japan doesn't have all those layers of middlemen, which they do, but the gift fruit is kind of a separate beast which must be seen in context.