Notorious cherry snatchers strip orchids of forbidden fruit

[GargoyleTS]

Notorious cherry snatchers strip orchids of forbidden fruit

A group of professional cherry thieves has picked a total of 1.2 tons of prime quality fruit in Yamagata Prefecture over the past 10 days, police warned Monday.

Now, be honest: What did you think upon first reading this headline?

And really, who steals that amount of Cherries?

[Taro Toporific]

Now, be honest: What did you think upon first reading this headline?

FG member Marvin is having fun with us again. I like the following quote from the story...

"You have to be highly experienced to be able to pick cherries in the moonlight,"

[GargoyleTS]

I was readin this and all KINDS of dirty thoughts were magically generated in pure, virginal mind. (and the first person to say virginal means never used gets it, see)

Still, its a pretty decent sized crime. Very organized too, considering the amounts stolen during the time frame given. But what the hell would Yaks want with that many cherries?

[bejiita]

I thought fruit and not the dirty kind.

Considering how expensive fruit is in Japan, the Yakuza stand to make a killing offa this theft. Some gift stores are selling 1.5kg of cherries for US$88. The Yakuza probably recruited all their debt-laden borrowers and forced them to pick it; thus the large amount picked in such a short time.

[Video-Link Japan]

FG member Marvin is having fun with us again. I like the following quote from the story...

"You have to be highly experienced to be able to pick cherries in the moonlight,"

Arrr.. I remember thinking it would take me a year of Saturday nights in Hachiko to 'pick' that many cherries..

[Caustic Saint]

Cherry patrols prove fruitless against expert thieves

The Asahi Shimbun

Orchards in Yamagata Prefecture are being plucked for the famed Sato Nishiki cherries.

YAMAGATA-Bags appear under the weary eyes of a farmer in Yamagata Prefecture, the result of sleepless nights in his orchard trying to thwart trespassers from picking his fruit.

The thieves in this case aren't a couple of neighborhood brats out to give ``Farmer Brown'' a hard time. The culprits in the heart of Japan's cherry region are well-organized fruit experts looking to make a killing on the black market.

The 55-year-old cherry farmer in Higashine says his life is the pits nowadays. He has been sleeping in his car amid his cherry trees every other night for a week. Sometimes he camps out in a hut by his orchard.

``I'm only logging about four hours of sleep. I'm exhausted, but I really want to protect my cherries,'' he says.
...

[Crispy]

Yes, those "cherries" are a valuable "commodity" that can be easily "stolen", aren't "they"?