I posted the other day about exploring Shiki no Mori, an enormous park in the middle of Yokohama. Right in the middle of that park is a series of rice fields.
In the foreground of the picture below you can see some rice plants that are very tall and straight and in the background there are plants that have fallen over. The foreground plants are "ancient rice", which is also black rice. The other rice is typical Japanese short grain white rice. All of the ancient rice is super healthy, but the regular rice has fallen over in the recent rain.
After the rice is cut, they are hung to dry. This is a common sight all over Japan at harvesting time (usually Autumn).
The tops of all the rice plants are tied with...rice plants!
Here you see the difference between the black rice (the ancient type) and the white koshihikari, short grain rice (that you get in sushi).
