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Japan's Secret Garden
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Program Overview
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NOVA illustrates how the seasonal rhythms of Japan's long-standing rice paddies—from wet to dry to wet again—has created a unique environment that sustains a rich variety of animal, insect, plant, and human life.
The program:
shows how spring mountain water released into the fields reawakens dormant life.
reviews the many species that gather from near and far when the fields are flooded, a number that eventually will include more than 1,000 species of insects.
follows the birth of many species as the days grow warmer.
explores the predator-prey
relationships that take place in
the paddies.
summarizes the role of the nearby woodlands as a water reservoir for rain and a source of food, firewood, charcoal, and oak tree limbs for growing shiitake mushrooms.
relates how Japanese laborers work the rice paddies and worship the forces of nature that govern them.
indicates how, as fall and winter approach, species react in
different ways—by leaving the fields, hibernating, or depositing eggs that will hatch in spring.
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