JAPAN The Ancient Rice Fields

In this collection, veteran photographer Johnny Hymas shares with us his passion for the source of so much of Japan's history, culture and language: the rice paddy.

From the first green shoots of spring to the almost microscopic rice flowers of summer, and from the sculptured rows of drying rice straw after harvest, to the snow-blanketed terraces of winter, Hymas shows us every aspect of the cycle of life. This book is a celebration of a way of life that has continued almost unchanged for two thousand years. But Hymas fears that it may also be a memorial, because the paddies--which have survived countless typhoons, wars and earthquakes--are now threatened by the more insidious march of progress. As Hymas chronicles this disappearing way of life with his photographs, he makes an impassioned plea for Japan not to sacrifice its birthright to the modern gods of progress.