Suika Smash!

Summer in Japan is hot and humid, but full of fun things like vacation, festivals, and trips to the beach. Of course, going to the beach may involve over priced watermelon, which means　スイカ割り, or watermelon splitting. Cut a watermelon into pieces and eat it? That's lame! It's so much better to blindfold someone and let them smash it with a stick!

Suikawari (suika = watermelon, wari = splitting) is a traditional Japanese game played at picnics, festivals, and the beach during the summer. It's like a pinata, but a watermelon. After the watermelon is smashed into pieces, everyone grabs a chunk and chows down.

Today I went to the beach with Keiko-san and her 3 rambunctious children to swim and smash a watermelon. Hooray!

Reiji, Miki, and Hanae. In the car on the way to the beach.

Hanae loves taking pictures. She took a few with her mum's phone.

We have arrived at the beach!

Hanae found some shells.

I accidentally took this putting my phone away. It's so nice out, but so hot!

Reiji also found a shell

Keiko-san and Miki. That's Miki's version of a peace sign.

Reiji's war wounds. There were クラゲ about! (jellyfish)

I'm super pale and under dressed! Poor Reiji got stung all over his chest and arm.

And his side. That's gonna hurt.

Miki is ready to get the suikawari underway.

How to smash watermelon, Japanese style:

First, put your watermelon on a clean tarp. You will basically be eating off whatever you smash the watermelon on. Directly on the sand is not a good idea, unless you like eating sand with your watermelon.

Next, tie a blindfold over the first person's eyes. Reiji was first up. Then spin them around 3 times.

Direct them forward, left, right, etc. You can be nice or mean with these directions.

Take a swing at the watermelon and hope it smashes!

Once it's smashed, everyone can grab a piece.

Eat up! This cute little watermelon probably cost about 1300 yen, or about $15 (give or take.) Melon is crazy expensive in Japan.

Reiji eats the fruits of his labor. See what I did there?

Miki didn't take a turn with the stick, which after seeing her in action enough, was rather wise on her mother's part. She did eat watermelon though.

I completely missed the watermelon on my turn. Oops! I still got to eat some though! Also, check out that awesome hat I'm rocking! I felt like a cowgirl.

I taught the kids to spit watermelon seeds and we had a seed spitting contest. Keiko-san was definitely winning until she taught me her trick, and then I took the lead, with Reiji in second. It's wonderful how she lets me teach her children bad habits.

What a successful summer day!