Although beautiful, the Japanese maples in the garden temples are not quite at their peak of color yet. So, rather than share photos of colorful maples, I thought I’d share an interesting colorful character I saw in the sales area.

At first I noticed his hat and was wondering where he got those magnificent pins, then I looked closer and he freely posed for me.

Today was the opening day for the 33rd Taikan Bonsai Exhibition and I spent all day studying the bonsai. The exhibition was not quite as crowded as in the past, perhaps because its only Friday so I hope more visitors will come during the remaining weekend. There are quite a number foreigners at the exhibition, many from Europe.

I received a question about the last photo in Part 3 of a rather unusual display so today I got the information. The display is a “Horticultural…