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Rice Art & Rice Harvesting at Inakadate

"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and avoid the people, you might as well stay home"-James Michiner

I really love this quote, it speaks volumes of what I believe in as a traveler. I believe that it is very important to always learn about the people and talk to locals when I travel. This weekend my buddy Ryan and I went to a locals event. Every year Inakadate makes amazing rice paddy art using different varieties of rice colored plants ( purple, green, brown...) a committee gathers and they agree on what massive elaborate picture they will create. In the past some works of art have been , Marilyn Monroe, Gone with the Wind, Star Wars. After the committee agrees on the picture they invite locals to help plant the rice, they display the art for some time and this is when tourist come and pay a fee to see the art from the top of buildings. After that is over the community comes together to harvest the rice, Ryan and I were literally the only foreigners (we saw one white guy walking around taking pictures but not getting down and dirty...) It was so much fun and after about and hour and a half I was sweating. I could not compete with the Obachans (grandmas), they were absolutely strong and fast! We had a blast learned a lot form local people and were fed a very delicious meal after our hard days work! 
Before we harvested we got special access to the roof! (just Ryan and I)I was so happy, because I had actually missed viewing season and best part I got to see for free!

The details on the rice art are just incredible, like how?

Tanbo art (rice paddy art) represents"The legend of Yamata-no-Orochi" it is based on a famous Japanese mythology story.

These women were easily way past their 80s! 

Stacking the rice bouquets



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Delicious soft serve, I swear Japan has the most delish soft serve, and pretty! Look at that rice art chocolate!








  

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