7/8/2005

”Rice Paddy Art” in Aomori — Kyodo News, Jul. 8 …Inakadate in Aomori Prefecture bear Ukiyoe works by painters Sharaku (L) and Utamaro. Local rice farmers created the Ukiyoe works by growing different color rice plants. They can be [best] seen until mid-August.

You’ve gotta love Japanese kitsch like this….

“Have a rice day!”(translation)
See the 17th annual “Rice Paddy Art” from June 23rd to mid August you can view the art from the village’s viewing tower everyday from 9:00am to 4:30pm.

Mo’ betta….
Why just look at the crop circles? Help make and harvest them the old-fashioned way! You missed slogging around in the muck for the hand planting of the rice seedings last June. However, you have plenty of time to wield a wicked “kami”[鎌 ] hand sickle and help in singing the harvest songs like I do on my rice ranch in Shikoku. Fun!

The Rice-planting Work Experience! (my translation)
Events: You can you experience the work of rice planting and harvest of former times. Everyone is welcome to participate in the hand planting and harvest with hand sickles. What’s more, the rice field is been mapped out as a giant canvas to recreate the Ukiyoe works by artists Sharaku and Utamaro, making use of three types of seedlings of yellow, purple, “Tsuga Romance” [つがるロマン] varieties.
Rice planting: May 29, 2005 (all day)

Rice harvest: September 25, 2005 ( all day, tentative schedule)
Inquiries: Inakadate Village Office,
Minami Tsugaru 123-1,
Inakadate village,
Aomori prefecture, 038-1113
Phone: 0172-58-2111 (extension 143)
Email: Shoko-rodo@vill.inakadate.aomori.jp

LET’S SICKLE HAPPY!