This bunch of grapes just sold $ 11,000 in Japan

(CNN) – Visitors to a hot spring in central Japan will soon be able to enjoy $ 460, or rather grapes.

This is after the head of a chain of hot spring hotels in Ishikawa Prefecture, on the north coast of the main island of Honshu, became the bidder. winner of a bunch of Ruby Roman grapes at an auction in Kanazawa on Tuesday.

Takashi Hosokawa will pay 1.2 million yen, or about $ 11,000, for the 24 fleshy, deep red grapes, valued for their juicy juices, high sugar content and low acidity. It's the most expensive group since the breed came on the market 12 years ago, auctioneers said.

"We would like to convey to our customers our joie de vivre when we held the (box of) grapes."

Ruby Red grapes were developed in Ishikawa and were marketed for the first time in 2008. They have been extremely popular since, with only a limited number sold to maintain demand and high levels of exclusivity. Approximately 26,000 copies will be sold this year, though not all will achieve the record prices recorded at the Kanazawa auction.

Expensive fruits, prized for their appearance and taste, are a must-have luxury item in Japan, bought as a gift or for promotional purposes by companies.

These can often be uniquely shaped or colored fruits, which are grown with difficulty or are forced to grow in a specific way, such as square watermelons, heart-shaped strawberries or White Jewel albino strawberries grown in Karatsu. , in the south of Kyushu Island in Japan.

"Everyone is surprised when they see a white strawberry," farmer Yasuhito Teshima told CNN's Big Big Story show. Because of the difficulty of growing strawberry and protecting it from blemishes or damage – which is much more apparent on white fruits than on red fruits – it can only sell about 10% of its harvest . Strawberry packages cost about $ 40 each.

This is nothing compared to Okuda Nichio's beautiful Princess "shovel-shaped" strawberries, which cost about 500,000 yen ($ 4,395) each. Only about 500 strawberries are produced each year.

Lynne Nakano, professor of Japanese studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the structure of the Japanese agricultural market encouraged producers to focus on specialty products.

"The structure of agriculture (in Japan) is different from that of many other countries, partly because of its history that the United States entered during the occupation and did not large farms, "she said. "With small farms, competition is not about size but about a special product."

She said that many buyers of these record fruits have strong ties to farming communities and want to support them and be perceived as such.

"We talk a lot about problems in the Japanese agricultural industry," said Nakano. "As farmers grow older … people want to encourage young farmers to make a profit or do well."

And while $ 11,000 may seem like a foolish sum to spend a bunch of grapes, it's not as excessive as it seems.

"It's a lot of money for the grape but not for an advertisement," Nakano said. "It's something that people would like to talk about because it's so crazy, it makes economic sense."