The national highway that runs past the firefly village now has a sign by it that reads, "Firefly Season Over". At the end of June I was a little worried as not many fireflies had emerged, but once we entered July there were numerous fireflies flying about just as in any other year. This year also saw many people come and enjoy the fireflies, with the car park being tremendously busy on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

This has been designated as a protected area thanks to the Genji Botaru fireflies that gather here, which are rare to find in the Tohoku region.

The sign reads "Firefly Season Over"

Once the fireflies disappear, rainy season comes to a close and the real heat of summer sets in.

However, here in the Towa district of Tome City, we haven't had any decent rain since 6 June. The fields are dry, and I'm afraid that this is going to have an effect on the vegetable harvest.
The townspeople have even found themselves starting to greet each other with the phrase, "Hoping for rain!"

Welcome to the "Home of Fireflies"

The rice in the fields that are fed by the Masubuchi River continues to grow.

The fireflies glitter, the plants glisten, and the people shine; I hope that some of the happiness of this mountain village rubs off on you too!

The young rice plants are still growing well.

As the rice plants develop, the weeds grow, too. The battle against the weeds now begins. In the old days, weeding was very difficult, as we had to crawl around the paddy fields on all-fours and pull the weeds by hand; now we have herbicides to do the work for us. However, if the herbicides are overused, the excess chemicals can cause problems, so the producers of these products are constantly trying to develop herbicides that do the job with a lower concentration of chemicals.

Ancient agricultural methods existed that did not require the use of herbicides: weeding by hand; pushing a weeder through the fields; or even the use of domesticated ducks to eat the weeds.

The paddy fields now appear to be a single blanket of green; if you were to see them from an airplane, they would probably look like a golf course.

Anytime soon, firefly season will begin here in the Tohoku region.

There is at present a rice surplus in Japan. About 35% of rice paddies are not being used under the "rice acreage reduction policy". The farms of Tome City too, an area which grows delicious rice, are cooperating with the national rice acreage reduction policy.

The unused paddies are going to ruin. What you see in front of you are the weeds growing in the fields this year. Last year's weeds have become hard and woody.

The rice acreage reduction policy is a national agricultural policy designed to cut the production of rice in Japan. This is achieved by making rice cropping farmers reduce the acreage of rice under cultivation.

Although the rice plants are growing well, due to this year's abnormal weather conditions their growth seems to be somewhat delayed.

Recently, what with the temperature reaching highs of 27°C or 28°C and then the sudden 15°C low-temperature weather warnings, farm water management has been very difficult.

Hitomebore, which is widely grown in Japan, is one of the most popular brands of rice.

The Hitomebore growing area was ranked 2nd in 1994. It is a hardy kind of rice, and is not liable to being damaged by natural calamities.

Hitomebore tastes good when it is cooked and warm as well as when it gets cool.

We cook bamboo sprout rice of soy sauce taste. Some vegetables such as carrots,
kidney beans as well as bamboo sprouts are cooked with Hitomebore. Some people add
chopped fried bean curds.

We also make ONIGIRI (rice ball) of cooked Hitomebore. We put pickled plums
inside and put black sesame seeds outside. Plain boiled Hitomebore is also delicious.

I used to bring ONIGIRI for lunch when I went to work. I prefer to put the mixture
of dried sea plants and white sesame seeds outside of Onigiri.

My familiy loves rice and we have rice at least twice a day.

Mr. Onodera, one of the reporters, grows Hitomebore on his rice fields

HITOMEBORE literally means "falling in love with a person at first glance."
If you visit our area to try HITOMEBORE, you may certainly fall in love with its taste
at first sampling.

As part of their hometown education, Yonegawa Elementary School carried out agricultural work experience in the form of rice planting. The mainly 6th-grade students enjoyed rowdily planting the rice seedlings.

In my elementary school days if there was a lot of farm work to do, I would have to take the day off school, wake up early and help at home. Children were an important source of manpower, so those people who had only a little land would go and help those who had a lot of land to work on.

At our household Shinto shrines, rice seedlings are made as offerings and we pray that this year's harvest may also be bountiful.

The other day, Miyagi Television Broadcasting came to cover this blog, reporting on the rice growing environment conditions here in the "Home of Fireflies."

Tome City in Miyagi Prefecture has been designated a protected habitat, as it is the northernmost area in which Genji Botaru fireflies (Luciola cruciata)--known as being an "environmental barometer"--gather en masse. Genji fireflies inhabit the clear waters of the Masubuchi River and usually are considered as a good sign of a clean environment and safe rice cultivation.

These clear waters are drawn by pump and are used in rice cultivation. Water is the very lifeblood of rice.

The photograph shows staff from Miyagi Television filming the clear waters of the Masubuchi River.

A few days ago we were visited by children from a Junior High School in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. They came to Tome City to participate in a farm stay, during which they would live and work on a farm.

Four enthusiastic and polite female students were assigned to stay at my family home. As soon as they arrived they got changed and started helping with the rice planting.

I hope that the students from Tokyo, a huge metropolis, will have much to take away from this experience. I also think that the students living in the countryside should, in the same way, have the chance to experience a culture different from their own.

We planted young rice plants a few days ago. Here are just some quick photos. We'll report you many details later.

During April and May, farmers in our area are busy preparing for the transplantation of rice seedlings.

Some of the farmers have jobs in addition to tending the fields, thus they were very busy during the annual Golden Week vacation period. In Japan, we have consecutive national holidays during the first week of May, so the week is called Golden Week. Their work is not as hard as it used to be, because they use modernized farming machines.

Young rice plants are growing well and strong. Farmers plant rice seeds in the middle of April and wait about a month before they sprout. These plants will be transplanted to the rice fields in May.

Before transplanting the rice seedlings, farmers plow the rice fields and spread fertilizer, flood the fields and then till the fields until the soil becomes soft. This process is called Shirokaki in Japanese. It is also important for the farmers to cut the grass covering the footpaths between the rice fields. After this, they mend the footpaths to fill in any recent holes.

In more recent times, women play more active roles in farming.

A woman is driving an agricultural tractor. She is plowing her rice fields and then will move on to till the fields.

A farmer is spreading calcium based fertilizer for soil enrichment. This is very useful to make the rice plants strong.

He is mending the footpaths and drains between rice fields to ensure the rice fields retain the water.

Farmers also fill in the holes made by moles or field mice. It is commonly believed that 3.75kg of each rice crop is eaten by moles. If we leave the holes as they are, a great deal of damage can be done to the rice crop.

Local people in our area cooperate in protecting the natural environment. They do their best to keep the water clean. Water sources and the natural environment are very important in farming. They also combine forces for the prosperity and development of the community.

The trees and plants around us have turned green and we feel happy to see them. Small brooks murmur as they run through our area. Larvae that grow in the swamp will soon burrow into the ground and return in the beginning of July as fireflies.