In one of the Ranma manga volumes, everyone went to the beach. There, they found Kuno had been training- he had been practising hitting watermellons with his bokken.
I didn't think much of this at the time (since I doubt that japan has giant ghost cats, gender-changing martial artists, or magical girls) untill I was watching the Witchblade anime this morning. In it, everyone was at the beach, and they were hitting watermellons with sticks.
Is this a japanese thing? Do japanese people actually beat up watermellons at the beach? Why