A spoof “Bonsai Kitten” web site sparked a good deal of outrage, but pictures of “bonsai watermelons” have prompted only wonder and amusement:

Square Watermelons A round watermelon can take up a lot of room in a refrigerator and the usually round fruit often sits awkwardly on refrigerator shelves. Smart Japanese Farmers have forced their watermelons to grow into a square shape by inserting the melons into square, tempered glass cases while the fruit is still growing on the vine.

These photographs were used to accompany news articles about the unusual square watermelons back in June 2001. Most of those article explained that the oddly-shaped fruits were developed in Japan in order to take up less room in refrigerators and were created by inserting still-growing melons into glass cases: