Stalks of green, yellow, creamy white, pale red, and deep purple bend gently in the breeze. I’m standing in a lush, midsummer rice paddy, but the intelligent design of these colorful crops becomes apparent only when I ascend the nearby observation tower. Back in the spring, hundreds of volunteers meticulously planted these shoots to create, over a period of several months, a huge living canvas on which a painting materializes. This year, it’s a scene from Itomichi, a locally made film about a girl who plays the Tsugaru shamisen, a…
