During the summer months in Japan, parks, baseball grounds and school yards come alive with the grimaces, grins, grunts and cries of triumph or dismay from people of advanced years who gather together to toss big metal balls at a little wooden one.
The game of petanque, or petanku as it is known in Japanese, originated in Provence, southern France, and boasts an estimated 400,000 players in Japan. That's nothing compared with the 17 million French folk who play it, but even in Japan it is still a popular pastime.
The game is played by throwing steel balls, or boules, measuring 71-80 mm in diameter and weighing 650-800 grams, as close as possible to a small wooden jack that the French endearingly call a cochonet (little pig). Battle is normally joined on a hard dirt or gravel area at least 15 meters long and 4 meters wide. Matches -- whether between individuals or teams of two or three -- are divided into rounds, with points scored for each boule that is nearer to the jack than the opponent's nearest boule.