Windmills, Buddhas, and Rice

I am in my sister's town of Kisakata in Akita prefecture.  Kisakata is our hometown(Anacortes, WA)'s sister city.  It so happens that the Anacortes exchange students are here right now, so we'll be joining them tomorrow.  But today Kristin took me on a tour of all the cool stuff, including a dairy that uses its own cows to make cheese, milk, and ice cream (we only sampled the latter, which was exquisite).

[Vestas windmills powering Kisakata]

[Rice everywhere]