On a recent trip to Japan I made it a real point to visit some of the places that are of interest to me. This included Sword museums, Origami museums and of course Bonsai museums. And, I visited a place called the Omiya Bonsai Village. And it didn't disappoint me. This is one of the most wonderful attractions in the world if you are a fan of bonsai. It isn't just a bonsai museum. It is a whole bonsai village.

There are literally hundreds of amazing bonsai of all kinds; some of which are over 250 years old. And one of the wonderful things about a collection like this is the variability of the seasons. You can see quite a difference in the trees from spring to summer and fall.

It is a bit atypical in that it isn't like a clinical museum. It is more like two very large collections of indoor and outdoor bonsai with a whole series of smaller locations spread throughout the village. Just amazing! It is kind of like a Japanese style suburban area with nice little houses nestled in together and various bonsai yards and gardens that you can walk in.

The picture above shows one of the street signs peppered around the neighborhood. It helps you to walk around the neighborhood and find the various bonsai gardens.

Here is a picture of one of the Bonsai gardens. You just walk right in and enjoy the bonsai. There is also a series of indoor rooms where people are caring for bonsai. It was fun to watch them.

Here is a picture of the brochure that I got for the village. I think I picked it up in one of the train stations. It might have been in Tokyo.

Omiya is a short trip ( About an hour) northwest of Tokyo and you can take the subway to get there. Looking over my notes it appears that you take the train to a major hub called Akabane. From there you take a JR line to Omiya. And if I remember correctly the Japan rail pass isn't good on the JR line so you have to pay for this train. I am not 100% positive about this. But if you have the tourist rail pass you should check on this. The rail pass is a phenomenal bargain that gets you all over Japan. But there are a few smaller rail lines that it is no good on. And this brochure proved to be invaluable to me because it has a neighborhood map in it. Once you get off the train in Omiya you have to walk to find the bonsai village.

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