Leh getting on the Iron Horse in Tono. He's sitting astride kind of a homemade hobby horse, made from a 'kua' (a Japanese mattock) that I bought in the area. Japanese farm and garden tools are substantially different than their western counterparts, and in many ways better. I purchased another kind of kua in Tono when we were there six or seven years ago, and it has become a favourite tool in my garden.
Japan has been making substantial progress in accessibility for the disabled since we left a decade ago. This is a braille information panel next to a train ticket machine, and I've seen these at a lot of stations in the country. They are also installing elevators and ramps in a lot of stations to improve wheelchair accessability.
Another shot of an elevated track for the Shinkansen.
A couple of shots of the nose of the 'Hayate' Shinkansen that we rode from Morioka to Tokyo. There are a bunch of new Shinkansens in use, and several more are apparently on the way. At the Expo in Aichi this summer a linear motor train will take visitors from Aichi station out to the Expo site.
