TOKYO, Sept. 6 — The Tottori Prefectural Government in western Japan on Sept. 5 set up a crane game offering pears as a prize at its local specialty shop in Tokyo’s Minato Ward.
The prefecture hopes to promote Tottori-grown pears by letting many people play the game and grab Nijisseiki pears, the variety which survived a typhoon in August.
Tottori is the country’s top producer of Nijisseiki pears in terms of crop acreage and the amount of shipment.
The area was hit by Typhoon Lan in August, but few fruits fell thanks to preventive measures taken by growers and the pears came to season in good condition.
The game costs 100 yen per try, and if you fail three times in a row, you can get a pear, which is still a great discount considering the variety is sold at around 500 yen at the store.
A prefectural government official in charge said the difficulty level of the game is set low so that players won’t drop the pears which survived the typhoon.
Tottori Gov. Shinji Hirai tried the game on the day and managed to win a pear in one try.
“I bet you can definitely get one,” Hirai said. “I hope many people will give it a try.”
The machine will offer 30 pears a day and will be in operation until Sept. 15.
A crane game offering Nijisseiki pears at a store in Tokyo’s Minato Ward on Sept. 5