Japanese “Field Of Dreams”

I could’ve written about this before, as I saw it on TV a few years ago…but I didn’t think about mentioning it on my blog until now.

There’s a small rural farming town in 青森県 (Aomori Prefecture, Japan) called 「田舎館村」 (“Inakadate-mura“).

The town’s name actually means “Countryside Palace Village”…so you know it must be a small town with a name like that!

There’s not much in that town except rice farms.

So in an effort to bring revenue to the town, a number of years ago the townspeople decided to work together and turn one of the village’s largest rice field’s into a work of art.

It was an immense amount of work to do it…but they hoped that their effort would boost sales of the village’s rice and maybe even bring tourists to the town to see the decorated field.

Well, their hard-work paid off.
People from all over Japan made the trip to 田舎館村 (Inakadate-mura) to see the amazing rice field…and sales of their rice has increased as well.

The town’s population is only about 8,700 people…but 150,000 people went to see the rice field art!

They make these unbelievable works of art by planting different types of rice plants that have foliage of different colors…but not until painstakingly planning where each and every seed will be planted!

It was alot of work, and the artwork in the rice field only lasts about three or four months…but due to the immense success, the town continues to make a different picture in the rice field every year.

Here are a few photos of the rice field artwork that the town of 田舎館村 (Inakadate-mura) made over the years (taken from the town’s official website):

The rice artwork in Inakadate-mura from summer 2002.

From summer 2003

Half of 2005's art...

the other half of 2005's art

Half of last year's (2008)

the other half of 2008's

This year's artwork (can be seen until about the end of next month (2009 Oct))

矢切りの渡し

Today we went to the river area because the weather was good for just being outside…blue sky and comfortable temperature.

It was a nice day out.

First, we saw two chickens that were just walking around.

Here’s a picture and a video of the rice fields that were near the river:

At this river is the 矢切りの渡し (Yagirinowatashi river ferryboat) that has been operating from that spot since the 江戸時代 (Edo Period, when Tokyo (東京) was named Edo (江戸) and wasn’t yet Japan’s capital).
This ferry still carries people across the river. Since there are now many bridges spanning the river and one can cross on foot, bicycle, car or train…the ferry is for sightseers now.

At the entrance to the ferry’s boarding area, there’s a very small shop that sells trinkets, souvenirs, snacks, soda, ラムネ (Japanese Ramune pop), and beer.
So we bought something to drink and walked around.

While we were there, my daughter found some てんとう虫 (Ladybugs):

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After we got home and had dinner, we watched 「なでしこ隊」 (Nadeshikotai) on TV.

It was an emotional drama about the true story of a group of Junior High school girls who helped at the base in Japan where 神風 (Kamikaze) pilots took off on their missions during World War 2.
The show is based on the experiences of one of the girls from the Nadeshikotai who is still alive today.

As I mentioned in this post, in Japan the Kamikaze has a different image than in the West.
Here, they are seen as tragic heroes who sacrificed their lives for their country.