The Japanese town of Bibai is known for its asparagus. But until recently, the asparagus tended to stay on the farm. Now "power asparagus" stalks are breaking through the asphalt all over town.
I'm quite curious to see how far this goes. Will they start breaking through the floorboards of houses? Will they crack concrete dams and sewage treatment plants. What will end their reign of destruction?!?
UPDATE: Girl genius and long-time friend of the blog, Hazel, may have exposed this picture as a fake! Stay tuned for more!
Th-that picture's not photoshoped!?!? OH ME SQUEE!!!! OO' THEY'RE ALIENS!!!
ReplyDeletenoooooooooooooooooooo vegetables are beginning their takeover,theyre trying to achieve WORLD DOMINATION and wipe out everything unhealthy, we're going to have to live on vegetables!!!!! save the barbecue!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGCCCCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteoh no my friends dad grows vegetables, i have to warn her!!!!!!!!!!!
kirsten, what they want is OBVIOUSLY total world domination, DUH!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletemmmmm. . . .. . . . asparagus. giant . . . . . . . asparagus.
ReplyDeleteThat is like the coolest thing that I have ever heard in my life. That and the pineberry. Oh yeah.
ReplyDeletethat asparagus is bigger than a dog!! okay, maybe just a chihuahua...
ReplyDeleteAAH! We'll all be turned into vegetables with this world domination plot! GET ME OUT OF HERE!
ReplyDeleteI'm somewhat skeptical. I found it on a couple different news sites (by the way, it's Bibai; I think you accidentally wrote Bilbai), but they all have there root at Gawker or Kyodo News. Here's different sites with pictures form different angles:
ReplyDeletehttp://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstPhotos/index.php?photoid=48343
http://gawker.com/5544675/killer-asparagus-plagues-small-town?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gawker%2Ffull+%28Gawker%29
http://eater.com/archives/2010/05/21/power-asparagus-wreaks-carnage-on-japanese-streets.php
http://japantoday.com/category/national/view/power-asparagus-amazes-people-in-hokkaido-city
Part of what makes me skeptical is that (in the photo Ananka posted) the asparagus' shadow is leaning in a different direction from the plant's in the background.
awesome! I wish my plants did that. Can you imagine one of those in your bathroom?
ReplyDeleteHazel: Good eyes! You are totally awesome. (Not that I didn't know that already.) Use your detective skills to prove it's a fake, and then someone can send a nasty note to the gawker. It's not nice of them to frighten the world in this way. (ha)
ReplyDeleteAgain, I am totally impressed!
(PS: Thanks for correcting the name. I've changed it.)
I'm pretty sure that picture is 'shopped. They couldn't be that big. And you can see it looks kinda fake if you make it bigger.
ReplyDeleteI just realized this has to be fake: That's not what asparagus looks like when it's growing. Here's a picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/17/AsparagusFernMilduraVictoriaAustralia.jpg
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly from seeing it at my father's friend/colleague's farm, it grows a big froth of dilly-looking leaves with asparagus spears at the very top. Thanks to my mother for pointing this out! I will try to contact Gawker and Kyodo News.
Hazel's right; it is photoshopped. Also, you'll notice that the asparasus is much clearer than it's surroundings. And, the tiny leafy thing next to it isn't a asparagus fern, it's a random plant XD Unless other veggies are attacking the streets of Bibai *laughs*
ReplyDeleteUhh.. The plant next to it's a radish I think lol:
ReplyDeletehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4677262.stm
They've been known for breaking pavements too
i hate vegatables
ReplyDeletei like asparagus, right, that's not what asparagus looks like when its growing
ReplyDeleteKristen: I had an idea. What if Kiki.com had a open forum bulletin board type feature, where girls could post things, a poem they wrote for example, to get opinions from other kiki fans?
ReplyDeleteGood job Hazel! I never would have begin to look for that!
ReplyDeleteto add on to Hazel's comment... If the sun was really coming from behind the camera as the asparagus' shadow suggests, you would be able to see the photographer's shadow as well... pretty sketchy, I'm not buying it.
ReplyDeleteI noticed the same thing Hazel... The shadow part.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm...If vegetables took over the world, wouldn't they *ban* vegetarianism? On account of not wanting to be eaten and all.
ReplyDelete...but willow trees really CAN grow through asphalt. At least, through the one layer of asphalt on a service road. They couldn't grow through a real road with multiple layers of whatever things roads are made of.
ReplyDeleteSo the Science Channel was right- Revenge of the Plants!
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how people who photo shop this stuff forget that some of us are keeping a close eye on unusual things such as this.
ReplyDelete~Emily
Julia Branches: Cool idea, I'd like that because I myself am a writer.
ReplyDelete