The result is a very heartwarming and slightly surreal picture book. Its name is "Kindness Apple." This picture book, which features the rabbit Yukine (the pet of Snow Miku, the Hokkaido support character), who always cheers on Domingo, was produced to commemorate the 8th anniversary of Yukine's naming. It went on sale on the anniversary, November 11th. Meanwhile, when it comes to apples in Hokkaido, Yoichi Town is famous as the number one apple producing area in the prefecture! It also has a history of being the first place in Japan to successfully cultivate apples during the Meiji period. To symbolize its status as a town of apples, the roadside station's name includes the word "apple," and Yoichi Town's tourist and product center, Ella Plaza, sells a wide variety of apple-related products.

(Roadside Station Space Apple Yoichi)

(Yoichi Town Tourism and Products Center "Ella Plaza")

With the hope that the children of Yoichi Town, who have a deep connection with apples, would be able to read "Yasashisa Ringo", we donated the book to Yoichi Town's public nursery schools and libraries!

Donation to Yoichi Town Nursery School

(Yoichi Town Central Nursery School)

(Yoichi Town Okawa Nursery School)

We visited two nursery schools in Yoichi Town, Yoichi Town Central Nursery School and Yoichi Town Okawa Nursery School, and made donations. At Chuo Nursery School, a teacher set aside a time to read picture books to the children, and they immediately read out "Kindness Apple." The children who were listening commented, "It was cute," "It was kind," and "It was fun!" After returning to their classrooms, the children gathered around the tables to read "Kindness Apple" and enjoyed themselves in various ways, such as talking about which of the rabbits in the book was their favorite. At Okawa Nursery School, we handed the gift directly to a representative child, who was very happy. The child who helped us take the photos also happened to be celebrating his birthday on the day of our visit!

Donation to Yoichi Town Library

In order to make the book available to more people, we also visited Yoichi Town Library in Yoichi Town and handed it over to the librarian there. Yoichi Town Library has other picture books related to apples, and "Kindness Apple" has already joined the collection! Yoichi Town Library celebrated its 30th anniversary on June 29th this year! Many people use the library even on weekdays, and it holds various events such as story time and reading sessions. If you stop by, be sure to pick up a copy of "Yasashii Ringo" and read it. This time, we happened to come across anniversaries at every place we visited, which led to the wonderful donation of "Kindness Apples." If you haven't read "Yasashisa Ringo" yet, be sure to get a copy from the Snow Miku Sky Town physical store or online store and give it a read!