$2M golden Christmas tree on display in Tokyo

An employee of Japanese jeweler Tanaka Kikinzoku Jewelry unveils a $2 million Christmas tree, which will be on display until Christmas Day.

/ YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images

(CBS) A jewelry retailer in Japan has decided to make a holiday tree out of what it knows best - gold.

The Ginza Tanaka "Golden Christmas Tree" is made from 26 pounds of the precious metal and stands at 8.2 feet tall. The tree's decorations, which include 100 ribbons, orchids and hearts, are also made of gold, reports Reuters.

Tokyo's Ginza Tanaka jewelry store unveiled the sparkly tree Nov. 22 at its flagship store.

The worth of the gold used for the tree, based on gold's current market value is approximately $700,000, but the store's general manager said the total value of the tree is much higher.

"Considering the time it took to make the tree, the designer and hard work put into it, we can assume that the cost of this tree would be approximately 150 million yen ($2 million)," Naoto Mizuki told Reuters.

Ginza Tanaka has no intention of selling the tree, but other items by the tree's designer, Shogo Kariyazaki, are on sale for a limited time during the holidays.

[lexingtonlady]

They can melt it back down guys.

[dantedressage]

I agree with tsigili.

couldn't the economy use this approximate $2 million - no, let's make a christmas tree out of it. Yea, that's a better idea....

ugh.

[tsigili]

Seems a very real excess, in the face of the recovery from the earthquake and tsunami.