Today I woke up to a cold, rainy day in Tokyo, not the best weather conditions to visit Kunio Kobayashi’s Shunka-en Bonsai Museum. But I did not let a little rain stop me from taking a bus, train, subway and taxi to get to see his bonsai. I’ve visited gardens to see bonsai in the sun, rain, snow, ice, sleet, slush, mud and even in the remnants of a typhoon in Japan a couple of years ago. The rain stopped just before lunch, but it was still cold, 41F compared to the 90F I left in  Manila.

Each time I visit this beautiful garden I see more and more bonsai, all beautiful and large and well maintained too. Last month during I my visit I saw a new rooftop addition holding mostly maple bonsai. Well, at the top of the stairs there is the foundation for another addition to the…