The rice field art in Aomori's Inakadate village is currently undergoing unusual changes due to the heat wave that has continued for days.

Rice paddy art that uses rice paddies as a canvas and draws pictures using different colors of rice. Inakadate Village's rice field art is celebrating its 30th time this year, and is being held at two venues: the first venue, which can be seen from the observation deck of the town hall, and the second venue, which is adjacent to the ``Roadside Station Inakadate Yayoi no Sato''.

The first venue draws rice field art using two paddy fields. This year, the themes are board artist Shiko Munakata's "Monsei no Fence" and Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring," and the second venue is based on the manga "ONE PIECE." I drew the main character Luffy.

As of August 28, the number of visitors is about 80% compared to 2019 before the coronavirus, and the number of visitors to the second venue is about 5,000 more than the first venue. It was the first time in eight years since "Star Wars" in 2015 that the number of visitors at the second venue increased.

It is said that there are unusual changes in the rice plants due to the intense heat that continues for several days. The rice is growing as expected, but the ears of rice ripen early, and the color of the person depicted appears to be sunburned. Of the 10 types of rice planted, the color of the "Yukiasobi" rice is said to be different from usual.

Takatsuki Asari of the village's Planning and Tourism Division said, ``Yukiasobi's plan was to turn white once, then turn yellow after Obon, but it was slow to change, and it finally turned yellow in late August.''

It is said that there are many weeds, which is unusual for this year. When the exhibition was first opened to the public, field staff entered the paddy field and pulled out weeds. In early August, staff removed weeds in the paddy field where ``Girl with a Pearl Earring'' is located at the first venue, so there are no noticeable weeds. The ``Monze fence'' has not been touched so far, and weeds have grown rapidly since August, and in some places they have exceeded the height of the rice plants.

Asari says, ``This is the first time in the past 30 years that weeds have had such an impact.We want people to enjoy the rice field art as it changes to autumn colors, so we plan to cut the weeds at the Monze fence soon.'' .

Opening hours are from 8:30 to 17:00 (last entry at 16:30). Admission: Adults (junior high school students and above) = 300 yen each, elementary school students = 100 yen each, preschoolers free. Until October 9th.