The plethora of information on the Web doesn’t surprise me;  working on the internet is what I do for a living.  I twiddle bits, twist knobs, and work with a team of amazing people who keep the pipes running smoothly for everyone.  What does thrill me is the high quality of some blogs & sites coming from shohin and mame aficionados (and professionals) in Japan.

Here’s a great example of an amateur’s blog:  http://itsunohika.at.webry.info/ ..and another from a professional: http://www.geocities.co.jp/PowderRoom/6922/index.html Here’s another:  http://www.geocities.jp/itosuguri/mini/bonsai.htm and no list would be complete without Kyosuke Gun’s site: http://www.mini-bonsai.com/ (use the Japanese side, not the English as the English side hasn’t been updated in a very long time).

If you can’t read Japanese, no worries.  Google has a free translator.  It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough to get some of the concepts across.  Start here: http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en and near the bottom there’s a section labeled “Translate a Web Page”.  Paste the URL in, select Japanese  >> (language of choice), and then click on ‘Translate’.  Good stuff.

If you’ve got time to burn and an equally burning curiosity, go through some of the links on these sites to find other gems out there.  If you’ve got others you’d like to share, drop me a note at dsp@miniature-bonsai.com.

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