Summer fun in all it's glory

For me English summer is all about eating dinner in the garden, opening up all the windows and relaxing in the summer breeze. Japanese summer is a little different. For starters, a cool breeze is almost unheard of. There's no cricket in Japan (which for me is a good thing, I've never understood cricket), and the humidity makes eating outside in the city a bit uncomfortable.

That's not to suggest that it's dull over here in the land of the rising sun in the summer months. On the contrary, my current state of unemployment has enabled me to enjoy a wide range of summer activities, keeping me more than occupied. And here I was thinking I'd have time to relax.

 
The other day, I enjoyed one of the best parts of the summer, a barbecue in the mountains. A barbecue with no hamburgers, but lots of vegetables. Check it out, looks good right? Trust me when I tell you it tasted even better.

Once the main event was done, and all of us were full of vegetables and meat, convinced we couldn't eat any more, we realised we had space for a little fruit. The watermelon features highly in summer here, but to simply eat it would be dull, so it becomes a game.

Here are the instructions:

First step: line up the watermelon and get a big stick. In this case, we used a metal bar. Oh, and the scary looking girl wielding the metal bar? She's one of the sweetest girls you'll ever meet, until you let her loose with an iron bar and a watermelon...

Second step, bash that watermelon with all your might.

Third step: inspect the results.

Fourth step: eat! And enjoy!

And once the watermelon massacre was over, we went up to the top of the mountain and saw this. An amazing end to a lovely afternoon.