FAILURE IS A GOOD IDEA

Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
Some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without
failing at something.
Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing
examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have
learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more
discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends
whose value was truly above the price of rubies.
The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks
means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You
will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships,
until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true
gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more
than any qualification I ever earned.

PART OF A COMMENCEMENT SPEECH BY BONO

AMAZING ART RICE FIELDS OF JAPAN


I JUST RECEIVED THIS FROM MY FRIEND PAULA AND IT S QUITE  REMARKABLE!

RICE FIELDS OF JAPAN - AMAZING
Looks ordinary enough...... but watch as 
the rice grows!!!!!!

 


 

 


 

 


 

 


 

 


 

 


 

 

Stunning crop art has sprung up across rice fields in Japan ,

but this is no alien creation. 

The designs have been cleverly PLANTED!

Farmers creating the huge displays use no ink or dye.

Instead, different colour rice plants

have been precisely and strategically arranged

and grown in the  paddy fields. 

As summer progresses and the plants shoot up,

the detailed artwork begins to emerge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

A Sengoku warrior on horseback

has been created from hundreds of thousands of rice plants.

The colours are created by using different varieties of rice plants,

whose leaves grow in certain colours.

This photo was taken in Inakadate , Japan ..

 

 

 

 

 

Napoleon on horseback can be seen from the skies.

This was created by precision planting

and months of planning by villagers and farmers

located in Inkadate , Japan .

 

 

 

 

Fictional warrior Naoe Kanetsugu and his wife, Osen,

whose lives are featured on the television series 'Tenchijin'

appear in fields in the town of

Yonezawa in the Yamagata prefecture of Japan ..

 

 

 

 


This year,

various artwork has popped up in other rice-farming  areas of Japan ,

including designs of deer dancers.

Smaller works of 'crop-art' can be seen in other rice-farming areas of Japan

such as this image of Doraemon and deer dancers 

The farmers create the murals  

by planting little purple and yellow-leafed Kodaimai rice 

along with their local green-leafed Tsugaru, a Roman variety,

to create the coloured patterns

in the time between planting and harvesting in September.

The murals in Inakadate cover 15,000 square meters of paddy fields.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


From ground level,

the designs are invisible,

and viewers have to climb the mock castle tower of the village office

to get a glimpse of the  work. 

 

 

 

Closer to the image,

the careful placement of the thousands  of rice plants in the paddy fields

can be seen.


Rice-paddy art was started there in 1993

as a local revitalization project,

an idea that grew from meetings of the village committees.

The different varieties of rice plants

grow alongside each other to create the masterpieces.


In the first nine years,

the village office workers and local farmers

grew a simple design of Mount Iwaki every year.


But their ideas grew more complicated and attracted more attention.


In 2005,

agreements between landowners  

allowed the creation of enormous rice paddy art.
A year later,

organizers used computers

to precisely plot the planting of four differently colored rice varieties

that bring the images to life!

TRULY A WORK OF ART!