Pentagon-Shaped Oranges Grown In Japan as Good Luck Charms

Odd-shaped fruits and vegetables have become quite popular in Japan.

Farmers in Japan have made it to headlines again for the creation of pentagon shaped fruits. As the name goes, the five sided iyokan citrus fruits (Gokaku no Iyokan) were created as good luck charms for students appearing for the entrance exam season in Yawatahama, Ehime.

As reported in MailOnline, "Gokaku no Iyan" also stands for "sweet smell of success in exam."

Iyokan is the second most widely produced citrus fruit in Japan. The variation in shape is also a strategy to revive the popularity of the citrus fruit.

This is not the first time that Japanese farmers have cultivated odd-looking fruits. Sometime back, they created square watermelons that the rich Russians purchased paying more than $800, i.e, 300 times more than the price of a normal watermelon. Square watermelons are also much easier to pack, which further increased their demand.

Japanese farmers are masters in growing odd shaped watermelons. Other than the square watermelons, they came up with heart shaped water melons in 2009, watermelons in the shape of a dynamite, pyramid, calabash and many more.

 These unique fruits and vegetables help the traders because  the produce sells well. Competing with Japan is China that grew baby shaped pears.  Though this was not supposed to carry any good luck properties, it was solely created to enhance trade.

From odd-shaped pomelos to  heart-shaped oranges and star-shaped cucumber, Asian market is flooded with such interesting unique shaped fruits and vegetables.