"John W." wrote:

> ... but I can see why it puts a smile on their faces.
>
> There's a lovely photo on the front of Mainichi online; probably won't
> be there past today, but there's some in their photo journal at:
>
> http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/photojournal/07.html
>
> The caption:
>
> An employee from Matsushita Electric Works Ltd. exercise atop the
> company's horseback riding exercise machines 'Joba' in Tokyo.
>
> I've ridden horses a lot in my life, and you do get sore muscles, but I
> wouldn't call it exercise.

Then you would have been even more surprised a few years ago, when it
first come out, and cost about a quarter of a million yen.

I've seen it in action at the electronics shop, as well as seen
advertisements and the in store brochure. You'll notice it is made "for"
women.