Earth Garden Festival at Yoyogi Park

Today it was time to take out the tie dyes and dig up the didgeridoo, as central Tokyo's Yoyogi Park hosted the Earth Garden festival. The event is as close to a New Age gathering as I've seen in Japan, but while you had your drum circles, candle sellers, and meticulously untrimmed beards, you also had some decidedly Old Age price tags. Hug life in Japan don't come cheap!

Scenes from Yoyogi Park as we made our way to the festival.

These Rockabilly dudes were at the periphery of the park, making a bold statement that they were *not* there for the tahini.

Hula hoopers in central Tokyo? Yes indeed.

The whole park was packed with folks soaking up rays before the winter arrives.

Ah, the didgeridoo welcoming committee. We were getting close!

And here we arrive at Earth Garden:

More after the jump:

Lots of shirts, hats, and skirts were on hand, with plenty of the tie dye variety:

Lots of bags and natural products too:

Plus some nice handmade clocks, watches, and other crafts:

These were some of our favorites.

Next you had your musical instruments:

And what's a gathering of green minded people without some music!

This group was impressive.

Check out the instrument! The variety of sounds they produced was amazing.

This impressed me more than anything. The entire afternoon set was juiced by solar power. That's what I call putting the capital E in eco. Less slogans, please, and more groups like this!

Onto the food:

Some of it was classic Japanese fare. I think some of these stalls are always there, regardless of the event.

Ah, this was more like it. Wait....churros? Ay caramba!

The good news is there was lots of veggie food on hand.

The vendors in the food court had no plates or utensils. You had to rent them for 100 yen/plate. Then, when you brought everything back, they gave you back your money. This made no sense to me. Were they worried about plate thieves at a gathering of tree huggers?

We had a nice dish with organic brown rice, diced veggies, and salsa.

 More shots from the fest:

The loominaries were out in full force!

 Lots and lots of dogs...

Dogs on wheels!

Amnesty was on hand.

KK Andy + Irene. Self-portrait in power necklace mirror.

As veggies, the KK crew appreciated the food choices and nice sampling of music. But for me, the Earth Garden was a bit too much spectacle and not enough get yer fingers dirty green living. Personally, I say give me a nice farmer's market with organic veggies, falafels, and cold brew, and I'm good to go.