Expensive melons

The worst excesses of Japan's economic bubble of the 1980s were on display again yesterday when a pair of melons fetched a record 800,000 yen (about £4,000) at the first auction of the fruit's season.

The bid for the prized melons, from Yubari in Hokkaido, northern Japan, beat the previous record, set last year, by 200,000 yen.

The price could rise further: the melons' new owner, a local wholesaler, said he planned to auction the pair on the internet. "I wanted my customers to know that the season for tasty Hokkaido food has begun," Kajio Suzuki told the Kyodo news agency.