Japan Top 10

It already past that time of the year again, when for a few weeks you have to watch out that the sun does not get in your eyes. Off the ground.

In agricultural areas, like the Kanto plain that surrounds Tokyo, the ground becomes a huge mirror at the end of April and the beginning of May. On fine days, the sun can reflect off the ground and get straight into your eyes.

The ground becomes a mirror because the fields turn to shallow ponds. And the reason is not the rivers overflowing, it is deliberate flooding. It is rice planting time.

Rice will only grow if its roots are wet, so in the beginning of the planting season the rice fields are flooded. The water is quite shallow but the farmers are running through the flooded fields on tractors with special implements, designed to churn up and soften the mud. Until the mechanization of agriculture, this was the job of the children in the farmers families.

Then the rice grows – and the frogs start singing in the fields. Sometimes so loud they drown out the sound of your car. As the rice grows, it grows taller, the lush green breaking up the reflections.

As a driver, you have to take care in the morning and evening. That is when the sun is low. There may be reflections as you drive into tje sunlight from shadowy areas, or places where the sun is hidden.

The more sudden the sunlight in your eyes, the more you will be blinded. This is one of the few times of year when sunglasses make sense.