Oz Eigo    English Study, Travel & World Culture

Rice in Japan: You Are What You Eat

You are what you eat: Can a country as modern as Japan cling onto a culture as ancient as rice?

IN EARLY autumn a pilgrimage of sorts takes place in Japan. People ride the bullet train from Tokyo, pass through a long tunnel in the mountains west of the capital and emerge in Niigata, one of the richest rice-growing regions in the country. They travel to see the harvest, which takes place as the leaves on the trees are turning red and the chestnuts start to fall. But it is not as bucolic as it could be, because Japan’s love of rice is matched only by its attachment to concrete. On one mountain, where you look out over a breathtaking patchwork of ripe paddy fields, an observation tower looms over the valley like Godzilla.

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15108648

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Tags: Japan