‘Rice-paddy art’ in which different colored rice is planted in paddy fields to created pictures, is reaching its peak viewing period in the Higashi Takasu district of the city of Asahikawa in central Hokkaido. The theme of the art is ‘Linking to the future – 2021’ and features the characters of Asahikawa and the adjacent town of Takasu in the Kamikawa region, passing-on and receiving a baton.

The executive committee, made up of members of the Taisetsu Agricultural Cooperative Young Famers Association and the like, was formed in 2006. The art is created on a ‘canvas’ of a 40 m × 170 m paddy field, in which green ‘Nanatsuboshi’ seedlings were planted along with four other purple and white varieties of ornamental seedlings in mid-June.

The art comprises an image of the Takasu town character, Attakasu-kun passing-on a baton to the Asahikawa city character, Asappy, and expresses the wish to overcome the Coronavirus pandemic.

The picture can be viewed from an 8-m-high observation platform by the side of the paddy. The executive committee wants “visitors to see how hope for the future is expressed”. The peak viewing period is expected to continue until mid-August.