True, this is not as exciting as Star Wars, but still, our Final Episode is the photographic finale of our trip to Japan this February! Yay! Cymbals crashing, drums going nuts, frogs leaping off bridges, etc.

Going back in time a bit to our first day…we all became kids over dinner. Here’s Grant and Peter in bibs, waiting for their ‘bacon’ to be finished, as they called the strips of pork on the grill. In a Korean restaurant in Tokyo.

Again tripping back in time, this is Howard perusing a greenhouse full of ume in Saitama.

Now we’re back at Suzuki’s. This was my last tree, a juniper that had been planted at a new angle so the branches needed quite a bit of adjusting.

Another tree I worked on. I forgot about this one, but there’s a dreadful finished shot of it later.

Matt Reel working on a tree…

At the end of January I was extremely blessed to have traveled to Japan for a 3 week “apprentice” style learning experience with Mr. Tohru Suzuki at the historic Daiju-en bonsai nursery in Okazaki. This trip was timed to coincide with the 88th Kokufu-ten exhibition where I would have the opportunity to assist Mr. Suzuki and the Daiju-en family with getting their trees to and from Tokyo. Before I share that experience I wanted to highlight the trees of Daiju-en.

When you think of pine bonsai you think of Daijuen. As a 3rd generation bonsai nursery, Daijuen and its founder Saichi Suzuki are credited with developing the now universal technique of de-candling used for Japanese Black Pine bonsai as well as the fast growing Japanese White Pine cultivar ‘Zuisho’.

I had the opportunity to ask Mr. Suzuki about the story surrounding his grandfather’s discovery which resulted in what is now…