TOYAMA (Kyodo) Sunflowers began to bloom late last month in a 1,000-sq.-meter area of farmland in rural Toyama Prefecture amid relatively mild temperatures of around 10 degrees, stunning local residents with the out-of-season spectacle.
"It's strange because the summer flowers are there while we can see trees bearing autumn persimmon and snow on Mount Tateyama," said a 67-year-old local housewife with a camera in her hand. Junichi Doi, 59, said he removed sunflowers from the field and sowed buckwheat seeds in August.
The farmer, disappointed, said, "I wanted to have homemade buckwheat noodles."