Okayama Japan
The Emerald Carpet of Japan
An ode to the Kibi Plain
It’s been a busy planting season in this part of Japan, with farmers working their fields at both ends of the day: rice is the crop, no surprise. The result has been an overnight transformation of the landscape into a green mirror-like surface reflecting the shapes of nearby structures, and the shimmering forms of trees and waterfowl in motion, and the ever changing colors of the sky as the clouds pass by.
Oh, the beauty of those fields! This is the Kibi Plain, where the cycle of rain and sun defines life.
Ensconced within a ring of low lying hills, the Kibi Plain remains separate and distinct from the big cities of Okayama and Kurashiki, just twenty-five minutes to the south. Visitors can access the area via the JR Momotaro Line.
These past few weeks I’ve felt like Dorothy, in a strange land of untold beauty; emerald fields stretching to the horizon; a gleaming city far off in the distance.
The transformation starts in early May when rice is germinated indoors in long rows of plastic trays. Then over the next several weeks the tender seedlings that emerge are carefully pampered until they are ready to be transplanted. While that’s happening, farmers work their fields several times over. First, is the…
