Japan tries to protect premium fruits

Flavour of the season: A vendor selling fruits including Shine Muscat grapes at a market in Hong Kong. — AFP

Ueda: The variety of juicy grape that Yuki Nakamura is harvesting as the sun rises over his farm took scientists 33 years to develop and can sell for US$100 (RM468) a bunch in Tokyo department stores.

But in the view of Japanese farmers and officials, the chunky emerald-green Shine Muscat, one of many fruit varieties created by Japan, has been “stolen” by China and South Korea.