Today is Earth day a time to celebrate our wonderful planet – A day started in the 70′s to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment and nature gave a helping hand for what felt like the first day of Spring.

The local area Earth day is down in the “big smoke” of Omachi about 30 clicks down the road from Hakuba. Omachi’s Earth day has been going from strength to strength and this year was another great event with live bands and local NPO group stands, sustainable development projects and organic food stands. The event feels a lot more authentic than the much larger commercial Tokyo Earth day helped somewhat by the large hippy and back to nature communities in Miasa and Yasaka.

African drumming