Fun at the Beach

Seeing as how summer just packed up and got the hell outta here, I'll take a moment to reminisce about a fun or perhaps strange little game played at beaches and picnics. The Japanese name escapes me, probably something with suika (watermelon) in it. The game is like breaking a pinata (sorry, no tilde accent there), but with a watermelon. Simply blindfold a friend, make them get dizzy, give them a bat, and shout where the target is.

Most of us non-Japanese consider this a pretty strange way to eat a watermelon, as you'd figure it would get rather dirty, what with all the bits of melon being smashed about. But they do put the fruit on a tarp, and I guess baseball bats are clean enough. Maybe it's a throwback to some primitive hunting scenario; you find the prey, bludgeon it, and tear into its juicy, red remains with your family and friends. Looks like quite a lot of fun, but I've never tried it, watermelons are too expensive.