Since 1993, the farmers of the Japanese village of Inakadate, in Aomori Prefecture, has been creating elaborate designs on rice paddy fields by intermixing a variety of rice strains to create large scale artworks. Each year these farmers plant rice of different color to create new artworks and they last all through the growing season until the time of harvest. Over the years they have made classical art pieces like Mona Lisa, and images of historical figures such as Napoleon, and Marilyn Monroe, as well as traditional Japanese icons and figures. To see these artworks, a tall viewing platform is erected and hundreds of thousands of visitors come driving from all across Japan clogging the narrow streets of this quiet community with hours-long traffic jams.

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