tonari no shibafu

Food Miles Cafe in Jiyugaoka

It opened last year, but I'm just finding out about this cafe in Jiyugaoka. It's run by the Association to Preserve the Earth and:

serves up dishes using organic and additive-free vegetables and food ingredients, and it also indicates on the menu its food-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, in terms of "food miles," or the distance travelled by food to get to the restaurant.

Have to check it out eventually.

Tsuchione Cafe Blog

via Japan for Sustainability

Glacier pics from Boston.com

'Nuff said

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/12/100_days_in_glacier_national_p.html

Setagaya community gardens

I sent off my application yesterday for a fifteen square meter gardening plot. If I'm chosen, I'll have the plot from March 1, 2010- January 2012. The deadline is Friday.

Link <Japanese>

Train to Kawakami

When we went camping during silver week, Ish, Misa and I went to an onsen that was maybe 10 or 15 kilometers past Nana's. About 5 minutes in I noticed a sign for a train station, so it seems it would be possible for someone to become pickupable by train. At nearly five and a half hours from Shinjuku it would be no picnic, but still in all a not unreasonable option.

Catch the Koumi line from Kobuchizawa to Shinano Kawakami station.

camping, 川上村, 長野県, 電車

Playing around ...

...with Dopplr. I don't travel very much, but I was attracted to the ability to calculate one's carbon footprint (from travel at least).

via Lessig Blog

Live Green or Die

Mount Washington's Cog Railway is going biodiesel. While I've never ridden it, I have watched it from the hiking paths as it trailed black smoke to the summit.

Fukuoka Masanobu has passed

Post at treehugger.

Fukuoka Masanobu at Wikipedia

Fukuoka Farming Website

Farming, Japan

Constructive procrastination

Recently I've been going nuts on the podcasts and here's one I recommend: CBC Ideas Massey Lectures. I just listened to a two-part discussion with David Sanborn Scott. His solution to our energy problems is the most reasoned and reasonable I've ever heard.

There's now two things better than ruckin'

It's in the news today that some members of the rugby team at Kanto Gakuin University have been charged with cultivation of marijuana. Somehow I had a feeling that foreigners, the root of all drugs in Japan, would somehow be implicated. Checking out the article in the Asahi online, I see that one of the accused claims that he got the seeds from Britain via mail order. Seems he didn't know that they are readily available for sale in Tokyo.

It's unfortunate we can't go back to the time when Japan had no relationship to cannabis<Japanese>.

Technorati Tags: Japan, marijuana, marijuana laws, 大麻

For Nate

The Japan Times has an article today about vegan food in Japan.

The Tokyo places mentioned after the break

Technorati Tags: food, Setagaya, Shibuya, Tokyo, vegan

Crap!

Burt's Bees is being bought by Clorox.

Environmentally conscious fashion on Newbury Street

Envi.

via Treehugger

April 19th...

...is act like you live in Japan National Hanging Out Day in the States

via Treehugger

For the greens

Now if you're traveling into Logan, Manchester (NH), Providence, San Francisco, Oakland or San Jose, you can get where you're going in a Prius. Planet Tran offers an all-hybrid fleet of executive cars (4-passenger max) from these airports.

via Wired News

Yikes

In case the amount of waste caused by water bottles wasn't enough to steer you away from them, how about antimony?

PSA

Anyone back home interested in Fair Trade and farming issues should check this out:

Three Voices: What Fair Trade Means to Farmers
New England Speakers Tour Oct 23-28, 2006

Monday, Oct 23 Burlington, VT

Tuesday, Oct 24 Tufts University, Medford, MA
Fair Trade Banana Banquet, Haley House, Roxbury, MA

Wednesday, Oct 25 Smith College, Amherst, MA

Thursday, Oct 26 Harvard University, Boston, MA

Friday, Oct 27 Putney, VT

A banana farmer from Ecuador, a watermelon and vegetable farmer from Georgia, and an apple grower from New England.

via US Food Policy

Random stuff

Christina Aguilera, vamping...

What happens after a decade of double digit economic growth?
High culture...
China's 50 most beautiful people
via Danwei

A list of the best vegetarian restaurants (and dishes) in Boston
via boston.com

Tips for new faculty from OSU
via Photoethnography

A cool water bottle sized/shaped bicycle repair kit.
via Boing Boing

You can be a girl for $900

A blog of a guy whose eaten nearly 14,000 bowls of ramen in shops across the country.

Terri Gross interviews CCH Pounder of The Shield, one of my favorite shows.

One of my new favorite photo blogs

Where to get the best sandwiches in Boston

How cool is this kid

Check out the site of one Ross Nizlek of the University of Vermont.  He has made some changes to his life to reduce his energy/environmental impact.  Kudos.

I have been toying with the idea of getting a solar generator myself.  My veranda has a Southern exposure and gets tons of light most of the year.  If I could use that to run my computer and/or recharge my electronics at night, I think it would go a long way to paying for itself inside a year .  Money's a little tight right now, but I think I'm going to get one of these before the end of the summer.

Earth Day

Today is the Earth Day celebration in Tokyo.  The weather is looking pretty bad today, and I think it's going to rain pretty soon.  We're gonna do a little shopping in Shinjuku and then (hopefully) meet up with Dado and Mari-chan at Yoyogi before heading back home.

Still have some work to do to prepare for tomorrow's seminars, but I helped myself out by getting a reference text I needed at the Kinuta library yesterday.

Anyway, hope everyone is having a good weekend.

UPDATE: Last year's Earth Day pics