Paddy Field Paradise



I really wish he didn't do this at 6am

I had to do some research on paddy fields (for starters I learned that is the correct English term, more so than "rice paddy") before this post. Because although they are all around my house, I have no idea how they are cultivated or what really goes on in a paddy field. When we flew into Japan, we could see flooded fields out the plane windows. When we took the train into Tokyo there were fields full of tall green rice stalks.  I'm pretty confused about rice agriculture.

"Our" fields seem to be following the timeline I found on on the Internet. A couple of weeks ago a guy on a tractor came and plowed them up (there was another guy weeding by hand too). From what I read, they should be planted in early June. So we'll see.

Currently the fields are flooded naturally because it has rained for two days straight (the famous Japanese "rainy season" is upon us I guess). Also, the resident frogs weren't too loud at first, but the more it rains the louder they get....



these canals run all through the neighborhoods, I believe            
they are used to flood the paddy fields



some kind of dam in the canals?  I found it one
neighborhood over

Memorial Day Hoedown at Japanese Wal-Mart

This weekend I drove to the mall in our rental car twice by myself.   Remember here you drive on the wrong left side of the road in a car with the steering wheel on the wrong right side. So I was pretty proud of myself. And it's awesome to shop without Chad rushing me at my own speed. I'll post more details on driving later.

you'll just have to imagine the hoedown music

On the supermarket side of Japanese Wal-Mart there is an odd display at the front of the store right now. It must be a Memorial Day display.  It's an "Americana" display with American flags and a poster of a Japanese girl in a cowboy hat and hoedown music playing on a boombox. And typical American food, of course. What is typical American food? Budweiser, Spam, Pringles and raw steak, apparently. Pretty accurate, I'd say.

exotic treasures from the imported food store

We can get a lot of American brands here (I'll post a list later on) although sometimes they are expensive or in tiny packages. There is also a store called Caldi that has imported foreign food from all different countries. We gave it a thorough going over and found some good stuff.

Flora and Fauna

The plants here are almost the same as the ones in South Carolina. Azaleas, roses, irises, pansies, dianthus, hydrangeas, petunias, ferns and elephant ears are all very popular. I see cedar and pine - type trees, lemon trees are popular, and I even saw a magnolia. I recognize almost everything. I've pruned and weeded a little in my yard, the weeds here are huge.

We have lizards, butterflies, birds, bugs galore. Because of the rice paddies (more on those later) there are a few ducks that wander around the neighborhood and......we have dozens and dozens of little green frogs all over our yard. I have taken about a million frog pictures, although in my defense, they are good practice for close up shots with my new Nikon. Check out my Shutterfly site for more nature shots.



I have pretty two-toned roses and the frogs like to sit in them

mystery tree in my yard, anybody know what this is?
those are flowers, not nuts



frog party, they all come out when it rains