|
|
|
My Trip to Kokufu 2008 Leaving Dallas: It was a long day. Spent two and a half hours in a plane with unfixable engine problems, to sit in another plane for two hours before take off (no explanation given) to ride for thirteen and a half hours to Narita Airport in Japan, an hour to get through customs and claim luggage, and another hour train ride to Ueno, a district in Tokyo where our hotel was. Shortly thereafter I was asleep until 3 AM (6PM Dallas time). Day 1: We visited Mr. Hashimoto, who was Joe Harris' teacher (Joe now resides in Oregon and works at Iseli's Nursery managing Matsunami-en Bonsai as well as their specimen Japanese Maple). Mr. Hashimoto has some awesome Japanese White Pine as well as Satsuki bonsai. Since we cannot bring back trees into the United States due to agricultural restrictions, we enjoyed the trees but in particular we enjoyed shopping for bonsai pots. Mr. Hashimoto has many, many old Japanese and Chinese bonsai pots at excellent prices. After about two hours of poking around the large nursery and setting aside our deals, we were taken to a delightful noodle lunch and learned to love roasted garlic! This was one of the best meals of the trip. After a train ride back to Ueno and a quick bite to eat, I succumbed to jet lag and fell asleep until 4 AM.
Day 2: We awoke and met downstairs at the hotel at 8 AM (5 PM the day before in Dallas) to a Japanese continental breakfast consisting of rice porridge, boiled salmon and sliced bananas. Then we were off to Kokufu-ten, the best bonsai show in the world. There we were literally inundated to bonsai artistry saturation as we viewed spectacular tree after tree. It is interesting to note that Kokufu is an amateur show - no professionally owned trees are entered into the show. What happens is that bonsai enthusiasts / collectors hire a professional bonsai artist to prepare their tree for the show. About two weeks before the show, judging occurs. Of the approximately 500 trees that are brought by professionals to be judged, only about 250 are approved to be in the show. Pictures are not allowed to be taken in Kokufu, but a few individuals such as Bill Valavanis are allowed to take pictures for their publications. To see a few of the trees that were in the show, check out the link in which Bill posted some of the pictures he took. After the show we went to the Green Club, which is the mother of all bonsai vendor rooms. It is a three story building with a huge parking lot that for the week of Kokufu becomes bonsai shopper heaven - except it's just a big tease for us Americans. We cannot bring back any of the trees of which there are some spectacular specimens that could be in the Kokufu show. There are also some quite affordable beauties that sell for a fifth of what they would sell for in the states. There is also an endless supply of incredible bonsai pots from antique to new, ranging from a few dollars to $120,000.00. For suiseki afficionados, there is no shortage of excitement. One thing to keep in mind is that Japan is a cash based society. Outside of Tokyo and even in many places within Tokyo, no credit cards are accepted. This is also true in the Green Club - it is cash only. This for me was good news and bad news. The bad news was that I couldn't get some of the things I was salivating over because I was running out of cash too early into the trip. The good news is I didn't max out my credit card while I was there which could have been a distinct possibly if given the oppurtunity.
|
