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MARCO WERMAN: I'm Marco Werman. This is The World. How much would you pay for a melon? We called a local store today to find out what it's charging for cantaloupes, honeydews, and watermelons. Answer? Between $2.99 and $8.99 each. That sort of money won't get you a Yubari melon, though. That's a Japanese variety, and a national favorite over there. The first two Yubari melons of the season were sold at auction today in Sapporo. Tokyo-based reporter Tomoko Hashida covered the story for the Associated Press.

TOMOKO HASHIDA: They went for approximately $5200 dollars – 500,000 Yen. And while that may seem pricey for the average American, it's quite a bargain when you consider that last year it fetched a record $2.5 million Yen, which is the equivalent of about $26,000 dollars.

WERMAN: For a couple of melons? Really?

HASHIDA: Japanese people are willing to pay that sort of price for a premium melon because they're really considered prestigious gifts.

WERMAN: Yubari melons are described as perfectly round, perfectly sweet, and amazingly fragrant. And they're grown only in the town of Yubari on the island of Hokkaido. The melons are the town's main industry, so the drop in price at auction could signal bad news ahead for producers. But reporter Tomoko Hashida says the lower bid was welcomed by at least one city official.

HASHIDA: He basically said, you know, “This is a good thing for the city, because when they went for $26,000 dollars last year, it created a bit of an image problem for the city because people around the country read about this and they made them think that these melons were completely unobtainable and ridiculously expensive. So he thinks that now that they've come down in price a little bit, more people will be willing to consider buying one.

WERMAN: As for this year's first seasonal pair of melons, it's not clear if anyone will get to taste one. Last year, a similarly priced watermelon was used as a department store display by the winner. By the way, once the Yubari melon season is in full swing, you can get these beauties on the cheap for, say, $50 to $100 dollars a pop.

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