May 22, 2018
The insiders guide to rice planting
One thing that we’ve been seeing a lot of in the last week or two here in Niigata is rice planting. I’ve got to be honest - I assumed that all this stuff was done by hand prior to living here. Not so - there are machines that they drive around just like tractors that get the job done in a fraction of the time.
Before we know it, all of the fields in our area are going to be lush and green - one of my favorite times of year. Driving around our town you can see some spots are already planted, and it’s very picturesque when you see the green sprouts of the rice plants reflecting against all the water the fields get filled with.
2 Comments
KamaT
on May 22
Reading your blog posts is making me want to get out of the urban jungle. When I was teaching at a jr high school in rural Saitama we had a go at planting (and harvesting) rice by hand. Seems like really tough work. I used to cycle past a whole bunch of rice fields on my way from the station to the school, and that time of year when they had irrigated them and a few green shoots were coming through was always my favorite. If sun was out the whole scene could have just about passed for being Bali!!!
genkidesu
on May 22
@Tomuu there are actually some terraced rice fields out in Tokamachi that I want to go and check out - apparently they're super picturesque and would definitely give off that tropical Balinese feel in the height of summer...especially with that trademark humidity!