An article and video from The Straits Times, which CueRio helped produce in June this year, was uploaded last week. I, Rio accompanied their Japan correspondent Mr Walter Sim as a fixer and videographer to Yubari City in Hokkaido, Japan.
Here you can see the video on YouTube.
Yubari is famous for the world's most expensive fruit, the Yubari King Melon. The article mentions as follows...
"The fragrantly sweet Yubari King, more commonly referred to as the Yubari melon, fetches eye-watering sums at the season’s first auction every May.
On May 25, 2023, a pair of melons sold for 3.5 million yen – the second-highest bid on record. The 5 million yen fetched in May 2019 – about S$63,000 at the time – still stands unmatched."
I had a chance to taste some. It was super sweet and had a richer flavour than anything I have ever tried. On the final day I purchased three of them and sent them to my family and relatives.
This city has a sad history too. Yubari is the only municipality in Japan to have experienced bankruptcy.
"It is Japan’s only bankrupt municipality among the country’s 1,741 precincts, having declared insolvency in 2007 after raking up more than 35 billion yen (S$315 million) in debt."
We interviewed various people, including Yubari Mayor Mr. Atsuya and melon farmers, who all seemed to be full of vitality despite the city's bankruptcy history, which gave us power as we interviewed them.
We stayed there for just three days there, but soon I would like to go there in my private time as it is cool in summer and skiing can be enjoyed in winter!
