Earth Day Tokyo 2007
The earth day festival was at Tokyo’s famous Yoyogi park. To be honest we only saw a small bit of the huge green space. Vendors had come from all over Japan, and people from all over the world. The gathering was a mecca for hippies, naturalist, and ecologically minded humans. So much organic, vegan foods, quite possibly the best spread ever. We started with a small sort of sticky bun and muffin. The bun was very similar to a runza. The flavors were so rich. The vegan meat in the middle was more tender and juicy than anything I had ate before. The muffin was an astounding display of macrobiotic goodness. With crisp roasted pecans and natural sweeteners the Brown Rice café demolished the boundary between health food and dessert. This was only the appetizer. As Melissa, Chris and I munched our goodies we followed our noses to wait in a very long line to get some Indian cuisine. Looking at the picture menu we decided on vegetable curry and naan bread. The curry was fantastic, not too spicy, just right, with lots of veggies over rice. The naan was so big it barely fit on our rented plates. The bread didn’t quite have the usual consistency I expect from naan, definitely a Japanese take on the famous bread form India. This small booth attracted almost every Earth Day’er in the park. The small Japanese man tossed nans like he had never tossed before, such a high demand delivered a fresh nan to each customer right out of the oven, not quite a tandor, but there we no complaints to be heard.
With full bellies we browsed the booths of sustainable vendors for home and garden. There was so much more than we could even begin to absorb. We saw lots of interesting booths displaying natural clothes, and handmade jewelry. Every type of artist imaginable was there to display their work. I truly felt we were at the heart of the modern green movement. Seeing so many people young and old eager to make better decisions to help the planet was moving and inspiring. Despite the fact that we all came either to spend or to make money, it didn’t quite seem like that was the dominating motivation behind the festival. It was such an amazing energy. I couldn’t help but ask myself though, what if everyday was Earth Day? 
Tags: dreads, Japan, Travel
Zach
I’m glad that I got interested in veganism just in time for these accounts… To at least a small degree, I can understand personally how exciting it would be to participate in such a major vegan event (and in such an amazing context).
sounds great!! I want some!!!