If you’ve ever traveled through Asia, chances are you’ve seen beautiful, lush, vibrant green rice paddys, but most likely they were a solid color. Every year, the farmers in Japan take it up a notch with these gigantic living murals made by planting different species of rice in the shapes of iconic figures like the Mona Lisa and Napoleon Bonaparte, ladybugs, and anime characters. They use varieties of rice that grow white, light green, bright green, or black to create the massive images. To have the perfect shape once the rice has grown takes a lot of patience and planning, as you can see in the time lapse video below. [Read more...]