Bonsai sinks roots across borders

Tokyo

"HOW about trimming this branch?" and other English sentences flew around a Japanese garden this month as a large group of people, mainly foreigners, tried to shape Japanese white pines.

The venue was the Shunkaen Bonsai Museum in Tokyo, where bonsai artist Kunio Kobayashi, 66, serves as a curator. About 500 bonsai pots are displayed on its premises. On March 18, a group of 18 people on a tour organised by a travel company visited the museum and experienced pruning and wiring bonsai.