Part 3: Digging for Sweet Potatoes!

On October 3rd, Asahi ALTs participated in the last event of the Asahi rice planting experience, where we got to dig up sweet potatoes and participate in mochi-tsuki, or pounding sticky rice cake.

Digging up the potatoes was pretty fun since we got dig with our hands!  Everyone had a small area where they dug up sweet potatoes. I didn't have many potatoes in my area, but the child who I was next found so many potatoes in his area!!! It was pretty unfair hahaha :P

Japanese sweet potatoes that I dug up

After potato digging we got to see children pounding the sticky rice cake with their big wooden hammer! It was so cute!

We also got a bag of rice!  I'm pretty sure that it was the rice that we had harvested before too! I thought that it was really cool knowing that we had helped harvest the rice that we were given.

Harvested rice

Part 1: Rice Field Event in Asahi, Chiba!

Japanese summers are notorious for being hot and humid.  But on the rare occasion that the wind blows, being near a rice field is truly breathtaking.  Seeing the rice plants billow in the wind is very relaxing, and the wind feels so refreshing!

Japanese rice field, Asahi, Chiba

On July 11th, a group of ALTs and I participated in part of a rice harvesting event.  This particular event is made up of four parts: 1) rice planting, 2) weeding and bug catching, 3) rice cutting, and 4) the harvesting of the rice.  My friends and I participated in the weeding and bug catching experience.

"But weeding is so boring!"  That's what my friends and I thought at first, but it actually turned out to be really fun!

See! Everyone is smiling! Photo credit: Koki Hirano

Cutting the grass! Photo credit: Koki Hirano

The event took place at the rice field near the Ohara Yugaku Museum in Asahi, Chiba.  We went down to the rice field around 10:30 AM, and with out little hand scythes we cut the weeds around the rice field.  If the weeds made their way into the rice fields then they could actually damage the rice. 

Lotus plants near the rice fields

After eating lunch, we started the second part of the experience: bug catching.  I don't really like bugs, but one of the members of our group loves bugs, so she had the time of her life trying to catch bugs and frogs with her net. Many children who were participating also had a lot of fun going into the rice field and catching frogs and other small creatures. 

Children having fun with bugs 

Can't wait for the rice cutting event in September!