Category Archives: Photos

  Hiroki Arai A group of designers, food directors and photographers is showing works depicting rice in “KOME: The Art of Rice” exhibition being held in Akasaka, Tokyo. The aim, in the organizers’ words, is “to take a new look and rethink rice as an important subject of Japanese society as a whole.” On display are 36 design pieces depicting rice and rice farming, created by a number of Japanese artists from various backgrounds trying to express the staple grain from different viewpoints.   The works include humorous objects modeling the shape of rice grains and unique exhibition of tools and materials related to rice harvesting. Visitors can also see … Continue reading →

  Takuo Fukumoto The use of raptors is recently attracting attention as a new way to tackle crop damage by wild birds such as crows. Misato Ishibashi, a 19-year-old junior college student of Takeo, Saga Prefecture, is a falconer who helps farmers to protect their crops. Ishibashi first had the opportunity to see trained falcons when she was a third-grader in elementary school, and learned by herself how to train raptors. When she was a fifth-grader, she noticed that when she flew raptors over farmlands, they drove away crows which do harm to crops. As she gained more experience in falconry, she began to receive requests to fight off harmful … Continue reading →

  Kotaro Yamada How about experiencing banana picking in your house? Okuhida Farm in Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, sells banana plants which can be grown at home to bloom and bear edible fruit. The farm offers budding trees of Super Mini Banana, a small-size variety which grows to a height of around 60 cm, planted in 30-cm plant pots. If grown under sunlight in a room with a temperature of 5 degrees centigrade or higher, bananas on the plants will become ripe and sweet for eating in about three months, according to the farm. Okuhida Farm, which is run by a Japanese-style inn with a hot spring, grows banana trees in … Continue reading →