I’m melting

Ugh. It’s not actually that hot here (maybe 80 deg), but it’s got to be about 95% humidity. It’s like living inside a warm cloud or cool-ish sauna. The sun didn’t even come out today, just hid behind the clouds and mist like it was too hot to bother shining. The weather report said “scattered thunderstorms” - I wish they’d hurry up and get here. Ray-san (the other company rep here) just smiles and says it’ll get worse before the summer is over. I forgive him only because he showed me where to get real pizza here. With pepperoni instead of tuna and corn.

The only thing that looks remotely happy with the weather is the rice fields. From a distance, they look like fields of spring-green chia pet hair gently waving in the breeze (most are 1-2 feet high at this point). Your brain knows that it’s not grass, but your feet still itch to see what it would feel like to run through it barefoot.

Oddly enough, there is very little grass here. Someone explained that there are very strict agricultural laws (at least in Ibaraki – I don’t know if it’s Japan-wide). Among other things, if you own x amount of land, you have to grow food. So everyone has a rice paddy for a front lawn and usually a really nice looking vegetable plot as a side yard. Maybe some flowers along the driveway. The amazing thing is how straight the rows are in these tiny little plots. I mean, I know most farmers take pride in plowing straight, parallel furrows, but these look like the Japanese farmers were out there with surveying equipment! And you apparently never deadend more than two rows into the side of your field (it’s probably bad luck).

I got here early enough in the spring to see some newly planted rice fields. It’s really something magical. Because of the perfectly straight rows and perfectly spaced plants, if you look at a field of baby rice just right, it looks entirely green. Yet if you look at it at an angle, it’s a still pool of green water reflecting the nearby houses and trees and even clouds. Like fabric that changes color with motion, or a hologram that shifts images as you move around it. I tried to take a picture, but I’m not a good enough photographer - all I got was green.

ps - the actual weather forecast says current conditions in Omiya are 79 deg and 89% humidity