The Rice Harvest

In America, most people buy their rice at the supermarket. Japanese on the other hand, LOVE their rice. They love it so much that they grow their own. If only they could grow bananas. But that is for a separate post.

My student Takayoshi invited me to a rice harvest that his family was going to. As I had never harvested rice before, I figured this it would be good for me to try. How hard could it be? When he told me that we would be leaving at 7:00 am, it should have been my first clue that it might not such an easy day.

Arriving at the fields:


The rice field. Part of it has already been harvested and the brown stalks were hung out to dry. I was told that this field was the longest in Japan, it looked to be almost 300 yards:





There was also a pond with grass in it cut to show Kanji and a fish. I don't know what it says. I am not a good student.




Cutting rice is not easy. You have to bend down and slice it with a sickle, and you have to slice 4 bunches before you can tie the stalks together. I turned out to be pretty quick at the cutting part, but I really sucked at tying the grass together. I finally just gave up on the tying and concentrated on just cutting down the rice. Another person took over the tying duties and I descended like a tornado upon the rice field. About halfway through the Mayor of the town came to help with the harvest. Apparently he comes every year. He was all decked out in coveralls and rubber boots. I guess he was kind of a big deal because everyone wanted to talk to him. He asked Takayoshi who I was and Takayoshi told him my name...with Japanese pronunciation, it is said "Jo-shu". Well, I guess that sounds almost exactly like the Japanese word for "servant or helper", so the Mayor thought I was some hired hand and that's why I was cutting down rice like a mad man. Once Takayoshi straightened him out and told him I was from California, The Mayor was very eager to talk to me. What can I say, I'm kind of a big deal.


Another view of the field:



After the harvest was over we went back to Sendai. My legs were beyond sore. It took about a week from my hamstrings to feel normal again. Harvesting rice was a very fun thing to do....once. I will now revert back to my American ways and continue buying my rice at the supermarket. I never cook anyways so it probably doesn't matter where I get my rice.

As I was working on about 3 hours of sleep and had just cut down a ton of rice, I was very tired. So when we got back to Sendai I took a nap on Takayoshi's floor. An hour later it was decided that we should go bowling. These are probably the greatest shoes I have ever seen. If they made them in regular shoes I would definitely buy them.