Artsy Farmers!

Even before I read the article, these images caught my attention immediately. I have never imagined that rice fields can be used as a canvas. Japanese is probably the pioneer of rice paddy art. It was started in Inakadate, a village located in Aomori prefecture, 1993, as a local revitalization project, an idea that grew out of meetings of the village committee. The farmers create the murals by planting little purple and yellow-leafed kodaimai rice along with their local green-leafed tsugaru roman variety to create the coloured patterns.

Rice field close-up

Daily Mail UK covers this story last year as well as WebEcoist, a website focusing on environment. Webecoist gives more information about this stunning art but they surely need to remove the google ads beside its introduction paragraph because it's out of proportion and looks unprofessional. The content is worth people's attention but the webpage layout is like a mess. There are too many ads and some of them are blinking and pop-up ads, which are distracting and annoying. On the other hand, Daily Mail has better layout, less ads and provides a time-lapse video of rice paddy art, which is interesting because readers can watch the initial process until the end of it. Daily Mail also gives informative captions on each images, uses narrative style in conveying its story, which create an easy to follow structure.

WebEcoist begins its story with a sub headline presenting some people's false perception in the past regarding this art. Some people thought it was a hoax because there was an argument that this art was produced by aliens or drunken pranksters when the picture of Mona Lisa circulated on the interwebs. In fact, it's real, it was planted in 2003. Interestingly, Daily Mail also use 'alien creation' term in its first paragraph. Some people might have believed
the hoax so that both articles mention about it.

Both Daily Mail and WebEcoist mention Inakadate, the village, as a travel destination in summer time because September is the harvest time. By giving interesting statistic numbers - 150,000 visitors to visit Inakadate, where just 8,700 people live, it will persuade people to come and experience this awesome art in person.

I personally like WebEcoist article better just because it has more detailed informations even though the story doesn't flow well. However, I encourage you to read the Daily Mail first because it has better structure and layout. 

- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1198381/Bizarre-spectacle-giant-crop-murals-covering-rice-fields-Japan.html

- http://webecoist.com/2010/05/20/amazing-living-art-18-giant-rice-murals-pics/