Japan's fruit filchers - The Pulse 1

Japan, Inc., Nov, 2003

ACROSS THE COUNTRY, JAPAN'S farmers are suddenly suffering a spate of nocturnal fruit thefts prompted by astronomical market prices.

A recently released National Police Agency report reveals that thefts of farm produce and marine products across Japan skyrocketed 48.1 percent over the previous year. Damage totals have reached an estimated [yen] 55.9 million, an increase of 81.8 percent.

What's worse--police authorities have managed to break only 13 of the 480 cases reported thus far.

With a perfect honeydew melon commanding as much as [yen] 75,000 for a corporate gift, and the finest grapes selling for up to [yen] 14,000 a bunch, thieves are scouring the countryside for the finest fruit.

Exorbitant prices for domestically grown fruit and vegetables have long been the norm in Japan, where the local goods are considered far superior to much cheaper imports from elsewhere in Asia. Many Japanese place a particular premium on produce that is free of blemishes or has patterned skin.

But even those outrageous base prices have shot up in recent weeks, following an unusually poor harvest. Japan had a cool, wet summer, cutting both the crop yield and its quality.

Several gangs of fruit thieves are believed to be responsible--but there has yet to be an arrest.

What the thieves have in common is an eye for perfect fruit, even in the dark. They are also thought to have developed an efficient distribution network since their ill gotten gains perish very quickly. With a poor harvest, selling the fruit is easy.

"These days we take whatever we can," explains Chie Harada, owner of Harada Fruits in Shinagawa, Tokyo. "I'm not too worried about who the supplier is anymore."

"We would have seen them if they used any lamps or flashlights in the orchard," says one farmer from Yokohama, bemoaning the theft of about 150 kg of ripe pears worth about [yen] 185,000. "You really have to know what you are doing to be able to select the right pear in the moonlight. Only a professional fruit grower would be able to spot the ideal darkness and tenderness of the skin."

Tendo, a small northern town famous for its cherries, has been particularly hard hit by the crime spree. In a ten-day rampage--judged by a spokesperson for the local agricultural cooperative to have been the worst in living memory--more than 1.2 tons of prime black satonishiki cherries were plucked from the trees. In the department stores of Tokyo's Ginza district, the theft could be worth an estimated [yen] 11 million.

There was more evidence that the criminals were horticulturalists: the pickers left the developing buds untouched.

Police have at least one clue: In a single night's work, 500 kg of cherries were stolen, which means at least ten thieves worked together. Experts from the Higashine agricultural cooperative have assured investigators that even the most experienced cherry-picker can grab only 50 kg a day.

Farmers from Hokkaido to Okinawa continue to lose their precious wares and face financial ruin. In a theft worth about [yen] 558,000, some 600 pears were stolen from a farm in Kamagaya. Days later, 500 even pricier pears disappeared from the same farm.

The biggest pear haul to date was in the famous growing region of Shimotsuma, costing the unfortunate farmer nearly [yen] 3 million.

--The Editors