About 1,400 melons have been stolen from a farm in Ibaraki Prefecture, police said.
On May 12, a grower in Ibaraki town reported the theft to police. The melons, which were ready to be picked, were valued at 700,000 yen, Fuji TV reported Saturday.
Police said the melons were stolen from a greenhouse sometime between the evening of May 9 and the evening of May 11. The greenhouse wasn't locked.
Police said a farm in neighboring Hokota City also reported the theft of 200 melons, worth 120,000 yen, on May 2.
© Japan Today
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sf2k
would that be a melony?
SenseNotSoCommon
This same thing happened in 2013:
http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/69-year-old-man-arrested-for-stealing-melons-worth-y60000
Moonraker
I wonder if they were insured.
NewsLover
smithinjapan : So if you forget to lock your bike or car you really wouldn't care if someone else would take it?
Mind me, not locking the greenhouse is not smart, I fully agree, but does that entitle anyone to take it? Beside, ever seen a Japanese greenhouse? It's all plastic most of the time, so what's the use of a lock... you already need a knife to cut the melons, so you would figure the thieves would have that at hand anyway...
itsonlyrocknroll
Not to be melondramatic, this is obviously the work of a known waterfelon.
Apologies, in all seriousness....
Watermelon sells for over £2,000 in Japan....
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/10892093/Watermelon-sells-for-over-2000-in-Japan.html
Disillusioned
Yeah, this seems to happen quite a bit. Some melons fetch a pretty hefty price in season. It might be time for farmers to start thinking about branding their melons.
some14some
Few liters of sweet water (!)
kagoshima126
Actually, they fetch an even heftier price off season. Look up the price of a greenhouse grown melon right now, and compare it to a pre-order of one during the summer. Big price difference.
commanteer
Not a laughing matters. Farmers work hard, take lots of risk, and lots of debt, and often struggle to get by. 1400 from a small farmer could put him out of work.
This happens elsewhere, but it's sad to see it now happening in Japan.
nath
somebody really needed melons
SenseNotSoCommon
somebody needs locks
Wc626
Times are getting hard. . . . weren't a few Strawberries stolen too some time back? Weird.
Alistair Carnell
The phrase 'Melon farmers' was used a lot on the tv edit of Alex Cox's Repo Man.
FizzBit
Never cross JA, they will cut off your melons
A.N. Other
A few men suspected of passing on purloined cubic melons were arrested recently. It's still unclear if they have been able to square their accounts with the authorities.
Sioux Chef
1,400 melons with a value of 700,000 yen? Provides some insight into just how high the markup is.
weisse
You would expect the garden of Eden to be real and these melons grown there for the absurd markup value on them. But hey if people are ok to part with such cash and the farmers keep selling them then why not?
kohakuebisu
Melons ready now in Ibaraki sound like they must have been grown in greenhouses/polytunnels with at least a month of supplementary heat. I'm surprised they are worth so little out of season. Melon plants are very large, so enough for 1400 must cover quite some area.
It is also impressive to steal so many in a short time. You can't just chuck em on a flatbed truck because they'll be worthless.
Nessie
If my bike were stolen I'd be devastated, but I'd appreciate some quality dark humor all the same.
Kobe White Bar Owner
Thats a big bunch of melons.
Sioux Chef
I meant the retail markup (you cannot determine the farmers' markup from this article).
These 500 and 600 yen melons will probably be sold to the consumer for thrice that.
Homotenashi
smithinjapan
jpg_guy: "Can you imagine the heartache of growing and cultivating something with care only to have someone with no empathy or morals to come and steal it from you?"
Can you imagine not doing anything about security after it happened before and after having banked your entire life on the ridiculous cost of a few pieces of fruit? Pardon me, but 'taking care' of something, in my mind, includes watching over it so it is not stolen.