[Insert trite line from Good Will Hunting here]

Every week, I buy 5 apples at the grocery store. Sometimes they’re Fujis, sometimes they’re Galas. Truth told, they’re usually whatever is the cheapest that’s on sale. I have one everyday from Monday through Friday. It costs me, on average, around 2 dollars.

On November 13th, a box of Esashi apples were auctioned off in Iwate Prefecture for 1 million yen, or $12,130.

A box of apples.

Sold for over twelve grand. We’ll wait for you to stop gaping at the screen.

It’s not unheard of to hear about some of the Japanese paying outrageous prices for “designer” fruit, such as square shaped “space efficient” watermelons, but regular apples? This is nuts. It’s not as if there were even a lot of them! The box only had 28 pieces of fruit in it!

Apparently it was the first auction of the season, and the high prices were due to buyers wanting the “prestige” of claiming the first box sold. Prestige? There’s bragging rights for buying apples?