In the small Japanese village of Inakadate, the population has been in a stubborn decline for several decades. They had accumulated a big debt, and the future did not seem bright. All that changed in 1993, when they decided to launch an annual rice art festival, or as it is called in the native language, Tambo Āto.
They usually plant the rice in spring, and the pictures emerge at their peek in August. This year they showcased an image from a local film named Itomichi. It is about a girl who plays the Tsugaru shamisen, a popular, three-stringed folk instrument. You can see past years' archives and the current state of the field through the live camera website, and a video story about the village, here.
Before rice paddy art, says a local employee of the tourist department Fumihito Suzuki, this was a rice farming area with no tourism and nothing to see. The rice, which has been cultivated here for at least 2,000, grows on two patches only in Inakadate. At its height, the festival drew in 340,000 visitors with its 2016’s Godzilla rice field.
