Last Sunday, April 18th, Soleil Provence, together with 260 volunteers, celebrated Earth Day with it’s 2nd Beach Clean-up in Kugenuma Beach, Fujisawa. The clean-up started at 11:00am and ended at 1:30pm.

The volunteers were formed into groups and were scattered along Kugenuma beach. In this photo, Enoshima is seen in the background.

A volunteer bringing a plastic bag with beach litter is seen in this photo.

This is the picture after the collected debris are gathered all together.

And then the segregation…

And the counting…

In total, the volunteers collected 45 bags or 130 kgs of beach litter.

The whole experience was fun. Looking forward to the next clean-up in fall.

Here’s a short video clip by Bob of podcast Chocolat.

Fujisawa beach cleaning (Soleil Provence) from chocolat on Vimeo.

Enoshima is a small island that sits at the mouth of the Katase River, and is just south of Fujisawa City. This island is the center of Shonan, a resort area along the coast of Sagami Bay known for its scenic beauty. From the island, you can see a very nice view of Mt. Fuji.

Enoshima is also the favorite place for lovers. There is an interesting story behind this.

Once upon a time, a bad dragon with five heads settled in the bottomless swamp among the mountains of Fukasawa, Kamakura and tormented the people. They called the place “Koshigoe”, and feared the dragon, because he would steal their children.

For many days, dense clouds enveloped on the sea in front of “Koshigoe”. For a short time, heaven and earth quaked violently. After that, a heavenly maiden appeared sudenly, the clouds cleared and an island appeared. This island is known today as Enoshima.

Today, the heavenly maiden is worshiped as Benzaiten in Enoshima. The dragon with five heads is worshiped as Ryukomyojin in Koshigoe Kamakura City.

A bell has been placed here in memory of this legend by Fujisawa Tourist Association. To keep the legend alive, couples who wish to express their undying love for each other can have their names printed onto a plate which will be permanently attached to the bell’s structure.

(Story from the Fujisawa Tourist Association)

You can visit Enoshima – Wikitravel to know how to get there.