Tono, Iwate

Our friends the Tokuyoshi's in Tono are a three-person family with four vehicles. That might seem excessive, but three of them are 'keijidosha' - mini-vehicles with engines under 660cc - and the fourth is a horse! I'm completely jealous: their motor vehicles consist of a Suzuki Jimny - a small, jeep-like vehicle, a Suzuki Alto car, and a Mitsubishi mini-truck. Being keijidosha, all are cheaper to buy, run and insure than a 'full-size' vehicle, which around here consists of vehicles that we consider small - though even Japan has its share of grossly oversized SUV's. All of their vehicles are four-wheel drive, which given the snow conditions around here is extremely useful.

The Tokuyoshi's vehicles outside of their house in Tono. The little pickup is strong enough to carry a large round bale of hay of about 1.5 metres in diameter and about a metre high - one month's fuel for the horse.

Toku-chan on his horse. The horse likes to go by the house, because sometimes a window opens and he gets an apple.

Leh on Toku-chan's horse. He eats a large bale of hay a month, which costs ¥8000, or about C$100, and the manure gets used on the rice paddy and in the vegetable garden.

This horse is pretty good for taking up the mountain through deep snow.

The horse is gentle enough that even seven-year-old Akane-chan rides him bareback. Still, Rumi fell off him the other night and hurt her back - she's much better now, about 36 hours later.

Skis in the snow outside of Tokuyoshi's house; it's a bright, sunny day today - in a couple of minutes I'm going for a slide on those skis!