Rice

It is rice harvest time and I went to this small community demonstration Saturday morning to learn a bit more about Rice. I was there with my co-worker Hisako and met her daughter and grandson at the event.  It was held on top of a small tower across from work and on the roof there was rice that had been planted in the spring. Adults and children could come and cut the rice and hang it to dry and then use an old machine with a foot peddle to separate the dried rice from the stalks.  There were many more children there than I expected but it was still interesting. There was a group of men visiting from Sendai (North Japan) and there are many rice fields in that area. So they were there to talk about rice and I don't know what more exactly (because my Japanese is so awesome after 6 weeks). Anyway, the event was short and sweet.

 

According to Wikipedia the government controls all aspects of rice production in Japan. There has been a decline in production in recent years and 85% of all farms in Japan are rice farms. 

 

 

Here is the "rice field" on the roof

 

 

This guy is supposed to be some kind of cartoon rice grain character

 

This gentleman demonstrated how to cut the rice and hang it. Not a complicated process at all.

 

This crazy lady separated the grains by manually using her leg to pump the machine.

 

 

Cutting the rice was quick. I imagine that it gets tiresome being the fields all day but if you have a sharp knife it is super easy to cut.  I know sometimes you need to saw a lot or the stalks can be quite think but that is not the case with rice.

With Hisako's grandson whose name I have momentarily forgotten. I will edit later when I remember his name. oops!

 

Dividing and hanging the rice to dry. I am not sure how long it takes to dry before you can separate the grains.