Rice Planting

After cherry blossoms comes the rice planting season.

It's the same old ritual in this part of the world.

It may no longer be considered as sacred and spiritual as it used to be, but the rice still has got a special place in our heart.

An important source of being Japanese, so to speak, or one of the essences of our culture.

With the decline of the rice industry, some of our people's goodness seem to have gone as well.

The ritual of rice planting (and harvesting), carried out by the locals in community spirit in the past, has gone through a fundamental shift: from human to machine.

And that shift seems to have caused a loss of that community spirit or sense of working together, living together.

People have become more individualistic, or to be more precise, more self-centered, one of the social malaise afflicting our society now.

Maybe we should revive the ancient ritual of people planting rice with their bare hands, not with the machines. That way, we may come to appreciate the joy of being together once again.

A very Japanese moment

Spring has come, and with it, has come one of the most cherished scenes in Japan: Sakura - cherry blossoms!

I went to a little hill in town this afternoon where they built a monument many years ago, commemorating the legend that the first emperor of Japan had set sail to Yamato (where the ancient capital was built) from our local port.

Together with the monument, one can see a whole bunch of cherry blossoms.

Unfortunately they were not in full bloom, but still beautiful. In fact, very beautiful.

This is one of the moments that we feel "Japanese." The reason why the cherry has a special appeal to our people is due to its ephemeral nature: after all, their blossoms last only a week or so.

They endure a cold winter, make preparations for bloom, and open up just for the week's glory.

And THAT is so appealing to us.