Crime Cherry grand theft

[thomas]

It's that time of the year again when five kilos of stolen premium cherries make it into the national news. I do commiserate with the farmers, though.

Yamagata's Beniou cherries: reaching the size of a 500-yen coin, a single cherry can fetch up to JPY 1,000.

Rich pickings are to be had at cherry farms in Tendo, Yamagata Prefecture, where a single cherry of a premium brand that took more than 20 years to develop can sell for as much as 1,000 yen ($7). That, no doubt, was what went through the minds of thieves who made off with around 5 kilograms of Yamagata Beniou, a new brand of cherry that was due to make its full-scale "debut" this year. The haul had a market price of around 100,000 yen, police said. Announcing the theft June 19, prefectural police said it was the first confirmed case this year involving Yamagata Beniou, which grow to the size of a 500-yen coin. The coin has a diameter of 2.65 centimeters. But it was by no means the only theft. Earlier this month, around 4 kilograms of Sato Nishiki, a leading cherry brand, were stolen from a farm in Tendo. In that instance, the market price of the stolen Sato Nishiki was around 12,000 yen. "It is unforgivable that produce farmers take time and effort to create is being targeted," said a prefectural official involved in promoting the area as a "gardening powerhouse."

Yamagata fury over latest theft of premium cherry brand | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

やまがた紅王｜山形のさくらんぼ

「やまがた紅王」は山形の大自然で生まれた、まるでお日様のような大きくてまぶしいさくらんぼです。

yamagata-beniou.nmai.org

 

[Petaris]

Hopefully they can catch the thief or thieves.

I have to say that 1,000 jpy per cherry is just insane. I think I'll skip those at the grocery store.

 

[mdchachi]

Hopefully they can catch the thief or thieves.

I have to say that 1,000 jpy per cherry is just insane. I think I'll skip those at the grocery store.

I wonder how do you fence such perishables?

 

[Grandpa Frank]

It seemed to be a standard practice at the bars outside Hakata base that the bar girls could eat a cherry and then tie the stem into a knot with their tongue . Not too sure what that demonstration served , LOL. Watching us gaijins try it and the faces we made while trying always made them laugh.

 

[Petaris]

I wonder how do you fence such perishables?

With a fence of course. Maybe they just need a taller one, with razor wire on top.

Joking aside, maybe they just wanted a snack. What buyer would they find who would only want 5 kg? Its a pile of cherries to be sure, but not really enough for anything very big to be going on.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

 

[Lothor]

It seemed to be a standard practice at the bars outside Hakata base that the bar girls could eat a cherry and then tie the stem into a knot with their tongue . Not too sure what that demonstration served , LOL. Watching us gaijins try it and the faces we made while trying always made them laugh.

Here's a video on how to do it for everyone's education.

 

[Master of Time]

I wonder how do you fence such perishables?

It is my belief that other farmers and/or farming association employees are behind the thefts in the first place.

In fact, it is my belief that even some farmers are stealing their own for various reasons.

Why? Because I have never heard of any of these theives getting caught, and it seems it would be much too easy for some to get nabbed at least.

So what the actual hell is going on? Something is just not right with this at all. It just seems it has be inside jobs of some sort.