Square Watermelons

Japan has again shown off one of its greatest innovations
- square watermelons.

The round watermelon is unlikely to go out of favor, but there is the annoying problem of trying to cut the fruit when it keeps rolling around. And then there's the issue of how to fit a large round fruit into the refrigerator.

But 20 years ago a forward-thinking farmer on Japan's south-western island of Shikoku solved that problem. The farmer, from Zentsuji in Kagawa prefecture, came up with the idea of making a cube-shaped watermelon which could easily be packed and stored.

To make it happen, farmers grow the melons in glass boxes and the fruit then naturally assumes the same shape. Today the cuboid watermelons are hand-picked and shipped all over Japan.

But the fruit, on sale in a selection of department stores and upmarket supermarkets, sells for 10,000 yen, equivalent to about $83. It is almost double, or even triple, that of a normal watermelon.

"I can't buy it, it is too expensive," said a woman browsing at a department store in the southern city of Takamatsu.

Posted in Food , inventions