I met Shusei Yamada at Tokyo Earthday back in 2009. 
The first ever Tokyo Earth Day Festival was held back in 2001, and hosted more than 100’000 visitors from all over the world. The two days were dedicated to teaching visitor how to preserve the environment, and live green. The event featured a number of speakers, musicians, and you can even buy a number of organic products. Since then, the festival is held on the third weekend every April, and is free to attend for anyone who wishes to learn about living a green life.
My friend Paul Coleman was born in the UK, but now lives a more organic life with his wife Konomi. Their home is a great example of an organic farm, that also acts as a sanctuary for wildlife. It is amazing how they have planted more than 1200 indigenous trees, created terraces to grow fruits and vegetables, and even built 14 ponds. If you really want to learn more about their inventions through which they have saved energy and maximize their resources then here is Paul’s Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/earthwalkerpc
His wife Konomi Kikuchi is a huge part of the project, and supports him in his quest to build a greener world. She keeps a “Simple Life Diary” about all their adventures on Facebook, and you can easily keep in touch with them through her profile. Here is the link to her profile: https://www.facebook.com/konomik1
During the Earth Day Festival the couple introduced me to a man who had driven a biodiesel car around the world. The Biodiesel Project was established in hopes to support to show how you can travel around the world using Biodiesel Fuel, which is recycled from WVO (waste vegetable oil). The car has a small biodiesel fuel processing plant, and he spread more knowledge about Biodiesel Fuel to each city he passed through. It is all about how people have changed their lives and completely turned them around to live green, and be more aware about the environment that surrounds us. You can learn more about Shusei Yamada from his website, here is the link: http://biodieseladventure.com/english/menu/profile.php
When I met Shusei, he explained the concept behind his biodiesel car, and how he has driven all around the world. One of the best things about the experience was how he was processing the cooking oil in a machine that sat on the back of his car. The entire experience was just amazing. He even offered me the hood of his car, so I can put on my tree trunks. His vehicle was a show stopper, and was parked right at the entrance of the Tokyo Earth Day Festival.
As the Tokyo Earth Day Festival is one of the biggest Earth Day celebrations around the world, there was a lot of buzz going around the biodiesel vehicle. There were reporters, and the place was just packed with people who wish to support a better environment.
Later Shusei invited me to come with him across Tokyo the next morning to the Kawasaki City Nishi-Kajigaya Elementary School, where he was going to teach students about the importance of biodiesel, and how you can live green. The next day, we began our adventure in the Biodiesel Adventure truck with Johnny AppleTree. Where you could see the back of the vehicle packed with a machine that converts the cooking oil to help create fuel.
Riding in the Biodiesel Adventure Vehicle through Tokyo rush hour, the car smelling like French Fries, it was a day I will never forget.
I learned a lot about Biodiesel, and how people have invented things that can help us live a greener life. You can see a video of us at the School here:
When we reached the school, we were greeted by the staff who were kind and extremely welcoming. We ended up having lunch with them, before we started the show. After lunch, I helped Shusei set up the vehicle demonstration. Where he showed the teachers and the students how the cooking oil changes to biodiesel fuel that is then used to run the truck. The children and the teachers just loved Treeman, and wanted to get his autograph. During the experience they taught me how to write tree in Japanese Kanji. It was a great experience, and something I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Those few days were a great learning experience, and I understood the true importance of going green, and taking care of the environment. I even met some amazing people I get to call my friends, who are really working on keeping the world free of pollution, and inspire others to do the same.
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