As more and more Japanese turn to growing their own flowers and vegetables with an eye towards ecology and sustainability, Honda caters to the needs of part-time gardeners with a lightweight, easy-to-use and easy-to-store mini-tiller, the Pianta.
One remarkable innovation of the Pianta is that it runs on the familiar butane canisters that are a staple in Japanese households, the same type used for tabletop cooking. By using these canisters, they have made the tiller's fueling and operation accessible to those who might be nervous filling a similar machine's tank with gasoline.
Each 250-gram canister provides about an hour of running time for the tiller, with 10% less CO2 emissions than a gasoline engine of the same displacement. It's billed as being quiet enough to use in the morning without disturbing neighbors and comes with a case that lets it be carried without creating a mess.
The event, being held at Honda's Aoyama Tokyo showroom through August 30th, lets people try their hand at the user-friendly device.
