Square watermelons

Lot of money for an ornament that gets tossed after a week.

10,000 yen. A lot of money. You can stay in many hotels for that price, or you can buy a watermelon.

In my home country and ad this week is for watermelons, 5 kg average weight for the equivalent of 355 yen and no tax on top of that.

Yeah, in my country side supermarket, in the local produce corner I can buy some really massive watermelons stupidity cheap. And, as they are grown in the sun, the taste is amazing, so far no misses.

I didn't know they were inedible. This makes them even more stupid, especially the huge chemical use that will doubtlessly be involved.

Why?

 the development of such watermelons started about 50 years ago, with the aim of creating a fruit that was easy to store in a refrigerator.

Mission accomplished!

Easily stored in the fridge... just "inedible".

I prefer round watermelon than square one looking like a part of machine if taste is same. I don't put whole round one or square in fridge. Mine is not big one.

In my country India the watermelon is a common seasonal fruit and comparatively cheap among Indian fruits.For the first time reading about " SQUARE WATERMELLONS" and the price at 10,000 yen is mind boggling.Ahoy !

somebody needs to sneak in some watermelon seeds, plant them, and sell them all over for very cheap.

Square watermelons are old news. I'm currently filing a patent for the cultivation of triangular watermelons, but am still working on a catchy brand name for it. Great Giza or something like that.

I tried a few of these ( which were gifts as I’d never buy those at these silly prices ) but it’s nothing special. The normal ones taste better for me. But maybe these are appealing to the Japanese or even foreigners who are gullible!

Doesn’t make sense at all, intentionally squared and not edible at that high price, while still some school kids and many seniors can’t even afford or be offered a warm meal. That’s just only crazy.

What's the point if the watermelon is inedible? Expensive! A fool and his money are soon parted, just like with Beaujolais.

It's an ornamental fruit. With a somewhat specific purpose. There are numerous such throughout the world.

Holly is decorative. And poisonous.

Get a job.

wanna try it but i dont think its worth 10k yen like come on

It's an ornamental fruit.

That's a problem with japanese fruits. They have to be beautiful.

Tons of wastes because you have to sell pretty fruits.

Check the TV show "The Tetsuwan Dash" when they look for free food ready to be thrown away because not nice enough.

I tried a few of these ( which were gifts as I’d never buy those at these silly prices ) but it’s nothing special. The normal ones taste better for me.

I would hope so. You’re not supposed to eat these ones.

I didn't know they were inedible. This makes them even more stupid, especially the huge chemical use that will doubtlessly be involved.

What exactly are these chemicals you speak of, and how are they involved in the process?

Japanese fruit is immaculate in appearance because it is regularly sprayed with pesticides and fungicides, a process euphemistically called "shodoku" in Japanese. I used to live next to an orchard and those apples were sprayed every ten days. Since I am not a farmer, I do not know "exactly" what the chemicals are, but I know that some of them are sold out of locked cabinets at branches of JA. It is not the stuff that is on sale to homeowners at a home center. Since watermelons are grown on the ground, home to lots of bugs and fungi, and these square ones are purely decorative, I'd imagine they are sprayed frequently too. Cut flowers are heavily sprayed with chemicals you wouldn't use on food.

I didn't know they were inedible. This makes them even more stupid, especially the huge chemical use that will doubtlessly be involved

Actually, it makes these growers very smart to market this ans smile all the way to the bank, the stupid ones are the people that are buying these.

Give me a big, dark green, heavily seeded, edible, black diamond watermelon. It was my father's favorite variety and one of the tastiest.

Japanese fruit is immaculate in appearance because it is regularly sprayed with pesticides and fungicides, a process euphemistically called "shodoku" in Japanese. [...] Since I am not a farmer, I do not know "exactly" what the chemicals are, but I know that some of them are sold out of locked cabinets at branches of JA. [...] Since watermelons are grown on the ground, home to lots of bugs and fungi, and these square ones are purely decorative, I'd imagine they are sprayed frequently too.

If you're complaining about general pesticide and fungicide use, this is really weird place to do it, considering that a) these aren't intended for consumption and b) they're grown in molds which cover 99% of the fruit. If anything, square watermelons are the one fruit where pesticide use is a non-issue.

My problem is people constantly fear-mongering about DaNgErOuS cHeMiCaLs, despite not knowing what the actual chemicals are or what negative effect (if any) they have on humans. Insect and human physiology might be slightly different, you know.