Planting Season

Although I've sworn off rice and other seed-based foods, there is no doubt that Japanese society has necessarily relied on wet paddy agriculture to sustain its population on an otherwise mountainous island, lacking non-seafood game.

The resulting planting traditions continue today, and in my area it is now time to plant the most common rice varieties. While this can be mechanized, many farmers rely on family and friends' manpower to plant.

I caught this scene behind my apartment yesterday morning, including the flooded paddies, hardworking planters, and even an egret. (The egrets and ducks flock to the newly flooded fields for the frogs, fish, leeches and bugs that suddenly abound when warm and wet!)