And you thought crop circles were cool…

Very nice. Why do they do this I wonder? What kinds of rice are purple and yellow?

how did they do that? thats nuts.

they're obviously not photoshopped, and not all are in the same field

The ground level shot kind of debunks any photoshop theories

Absolutely. Photoshop or PaintShopPro all the way. But nice though. Gotta give credit where credit is due. http://www.FireMe.To/udi

hi from Digg

of course it's the same field in each picture. Look at the buildings on the left and above, and the road on the right, and the little white bridge over the ditch on the left. Same spot in every picture. They were either taken over a series of seasons, or they are fake. Interestingly, my uncle once tried to do something similar in Canada, but not very many companies wanted to pay for aerial advertising. Sorry, but I don't have pictures.

GROUND FIELD SHOT at the bottom. they use different kinds of rice – pictures of the images developing as the rice grows ” target=”_blank”>http://www.funforever.net/archives/rice-field-art… they only last until harvest, and they do different images every season (so yes, over the years)

Any chance we can get larger versions or raw copies of these photos?

Its legit. Just because youre a skeptic doesnt make you cooler at all. In fact, it makes you look really really DUMB. http://www.vill.inakadate.aomori.jp/ OUCH. How does it feel to believe information based on gut feeling and not on facts? All you think you are so great, but you are in the end no different than the people 700 years ago that believed the world was flat just because they 'thought so'. So from next time, please judge legitimacy by thought, not by feeling, like all you emotional and shallow people.

If you examine the photos, you will notice that they are NOT the same. There are many differences that would be fully expected by photos over time. The weather and clouds change. So does the foliage, signage, and many others. That of course doesn't mean it's not a photoshop job, but lets face it, with those kinds of differences, it would be easier to plant the actual field pics. I believe these are real photos. Besides, that kind of thing is something Japanese communities are known for.

If you dumb fucks pay attention, you would notice that it is not photoshop. The background is the same because it was the same farm, but there are slight differences each time, and the pictures were taken from different angles. How about you think before you call "photoshop"? I'm sick of people calling photoshop just because they can't concieve in their little brains that they aren't just seeing something new.

Each year, farmers in the town of Inakadate in Aomori prefecture create works of crop art by growing a little purple and yellow-leafed kodaimai rice along with their local green-leafed tsugaru-roman variety. ” target=”_blank”>http://www.pinktentacle.com/2007/07/pimp-my-rice-…http://www.vill.inakadate.aomori.jp/

Friggin amazing Grow in patterns as I could tell from the one-before-last photo.

Way cool!

hey I'm from Ottawa too and I think I've read some of your articles. I really enjoy them!

These rice fields are under threat at the moment since the association responsible for them started adding corporate sponsorship without the approval of land owners. The field owners are not happy and have ordered some of the fields immediately harvested to remove the offending corporate material. Good while they lasted I guess. Either way, more odd, funny, random japanese stuff here: hope you enjoy ” target=”_blank”>http://www.asahikawa-tourism.com/asahikawa/offbea…

They are clearly not photoshopped. I live in japan and actually have seen them in person. They do different ones each year. They were also featured on Japanese tv. The writing says cultural town, inakadate. heres a link for you idiots: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inakadate,_Aomori

these are great works of art but the "writer" chooses to make fun of how people talk… mona risa?? real professional. stay classy.

Hi Nunya, Actually if you look at the website they came from, that's what the file is saved as. I didn't name it, the Japanese site creators did. I'm not actually sure if it's a play on a stereotypical accent, or a reference to the fact that this Mona Lisa is made with RICE. Thanks for your comment.

While I am also sure this is not photo-shopped, I have an alternate solution to the fact that it would take 8 or 9 years or growing seasins to accumulate this many different images–plus the fact that I have never heard of black rice. Some of my father's family were rice growers, and like most grain crops in countries that have both winter and summer the growing season is one year If you look at the low level shot, you will notice that not only is the rice black, but so is the ground around it. This makes me think that rather than growing colored rice, they simply spray the area with a water soluble food dye, or paint. The picture would only last until the next rain and/or flooding of the field. Then they would lay down a new design probably using pesticide spraying equipment that they already have as a part of the growing process. This would allow them to do a bunch of designs in one season rather than only one. While I am only guessing, to me this is a more plausible explanation than growing colored rice and only being able to do one disign per growing season.

http://xkcd.com/331/

This is amazing how the image appears as the crops grow over the days! ” target=”_blank”>http://www.vill.inakadate.aomori.jp/1000power/htm…

Nicely photoshopped, a simple yet humorous outcome, very well done 10/10

This is a photo I took of the top one. ” target=”_blank”>http://koretatenshi.deviantart.com/art/Tanbo-Arto… And the one second from the top, with the two demons raijin and fujin? I helped harvest that and I ate the rice from it. This is like thirty minutes from where I live. And the ground is black around the black rice because it grows in mud. Which is black. So yeah. Not photoshopped lol

No this isnt photo shopped, these are taken in Inakadate, Aomori Japan. I have seen the top and 2nd from the top over the last two years. They do this every year with different coloured rice to make a design.

I agree with you Mona Riza is extremely cool. Great Post!

See this famous castle image in rice! It's real! See the diagrams, the layout, the results! ” target=”_blank”>http://www.letsjapan.markmode.com/index.php/2008/…

To those who still think it's photoshopped http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=dn5_6x01ETocheck that out. A news report from Japan on this and a ground level shot. theres a few other vids on youtube too.

photoshop callers got PWND