A number of overseas Bonsai lovers joined the eighth World Bonsai Convention to appreciate the Japanese Bonsai arts. (Saitama city, Saitama prefecture)
The eighth World Bonsai Convention was held in Saitama city, Japan, during four days from April 27.
Venues of the Convention have been crowded every day with a number of visitors including lovers of Bonsai or potted miniature trees, who came to Japan from various countries to see “Bonsais at the home of Bonsai.”
More than 300 Bonsai trees were displayed at the Convention Center, highlighting a nearly 400-year-old Bonsai that has been exhibited at the Imperial Palace since the Edo period.
Lots of Bonsai trees were sold to inbound visitors after roots of those miniature trees were washed so that the visitors could carry back with the bonsais passing through the airport quarantine inspection.
According to the trade census released by the Ministry of Finance, an export value of plants and potted trees increased by 3.4 times in the past ten years up to 8 billion yen in 2016.
Among countries in the Asian region, a major market of Japanese plants and Bonsais, China imported 4.5 billion yen, followed by Vietnam importing 1.36 billion yen.
Bonsai lovers have been remarkably increasing in European countries as well. “I am most attracted to the beauty consisting in high-aged Bonsai trees,” an Italian tourist said at the Convention Center.