Call me a coward, but I get nervous when surrounded by rowdy youths carrying sharp blades.

It happened again just recently. I was in the middle of a field in Chiba Prefecture when I found myself encircled by unruly boys brandishing kama, the short-bladed sickles traditionally used to harvest rice. Perhaps I should explain that the presence of sharp implements was not completely unexpected. I was, after all, on an inekari taiken, or "try your hand at rice harvesting" trip, sponsored by the Japanese elementary school my son attends. It's fairly common for schools to organize such trips. Rice is so important in Japan, both in traditional culture and the modern diet, that the national curriculum stipulates that students should learn about rice cultivation.

Regular readers may remember a column I wrote in July about planting the rice with other families from school. It was a wonderful experience to step barefoot into spring mud and plant an entire paddy of seedlings. We had to return to Tokyo, leaving the farmer to handle everything until harvest, but our hearts remained in that paddy we had planted with our own hands. My sons and I talked about the rice, wondering if it was growing well. When the summer turned cold, we worried along with all the other rice growing families in Japan.