Bonsai City: Japanese Bonsai Tour & Hands-on Experience

My wife and I recently attended the Bonsai Experience Workshop with Jun-san, and it was nothing short of amazing.From the very beginning, Jun was an incredible teacher. He is deeply knowledgeable, welcoming, and incredibly patient. He didn't just teach us the physical mechanics of trimming and shaping the trees; he shared the beautiful philosophy, history, and artistic intent behind bonsai culture.The workshop itself was a perfect balance of education and hands-on practice. We left the experience with a profound respect for the craft and memories that we will cherish forever.If you are looking for an authentic, engaging, and memorable cultural experience in Japan, we cannot recommend Jun’s workshop highly enough. Thank you, Jun-san!

My mom and I had a wonderful time with Jun. He was very informative about the area and obviously, bonsai knowledge. He took the time to answer a lot of my mother's questions about bonsai and Japan in general. The entire experience was great. Would honestly tell friends about it and would do it again to learn more :)

We had an excellent and in-depth tour and experience with Jun, who has been studying Bonsai for 10 years. He was super knowledgeable and friendly and answered 1,000 questions. We loved the hands on lesson at the beautiful Toroto café, and enjoyed exploring the Toro neighborhood. Highly, highly recommend for this interested in bonsai!

This tour was a great experience getting to see all these little masterpieces. Jun promptly met me at the train station and gave a brief history on the walk to the nursery. It ended up just being me on the tour that day, which was nice having a one-on-one. Once there, he discussed the proper way to appreciate a bonsai and he answered all of my questions as we looked at all the different varieties of trees. You can tell he truly enjoys working with bonsai and was very knowledgeable. From there, we moved on to the bonsai museum which had some truly impressive trees. We talked about the different shapes and ages of the bonsai there and even the maintenance of them. After that, we moved on to the workshop portion. This was held at a cute cafe where he already had multiple younger trees set up to work on. We practiced wiring/removing and how to pick the correct branches/buds to remove. I recently got a new bonsai and this workshop has made me more confident in caring for it. If you’re looking for some pointers or even just interested in this amazing art form, I would highly recommend this tour. Definitely worth the train ride from Tokyo.

wonderful curator. He's very knowledgeable & thoroughly explained from history of bonsai to handle wire cutting, trimming. It's such an art and science and patience that go into taking care of 1 bonsai

Thank you so much Jun-san 😊 This experience was very high value for the cost and I highly recommend anyone considering it to go for it. We were met by Jun-san in the station, he walked with us to the Bonsai sanctuary where he has worked for 10 years. We had a private tour where he shared all of his knowledge and answered all of our questions gladly. Afterwards we went to the Bonsai museum which was stunning, and the information we learnt there confirmed what we had already taught us. Following this we had a beautiful time learning how to take care of and develop Bonsai in a beautiful cafe. The education was guided with clear instructions, patience and pictures from a lovely japanese Bonsai book. Afterwards we enjoyed a lunch with Jun-san in the cafe and exchanged language and culture. We really enjoyed our time and appreciate the care and attention given to us, we felt the Bonsai. We also received great pictures afterwards for our memories. 😊

We had our work christmas party here for the second year as Grace and George were so amazing!!! Thanks Blame Gloria xoxoxo

5 Star experience with Mr. Jun-san. From the visit at two Bonsai gardens to the hands-on experience with Jun, it was a fun educational experience well worth the time. Also, if you wish to stay at the cafe after the hands-on experience, it is an inexpensive with good food. Thank you Jun-san.

We had a great Bonsai experience in Saitama with Jun-san. Jun met us at the train station and walked us to a fantastic bonsai nursery. After the nursery visit, we went to a neighborhood coffee shop and had our hands on experience. Jun showed and explained to us how to prune and shape the bonsai trees. Such a great experience.

Greeted at Toro station by Jun in person before taking us on a pleasant walk to our first bonsai garden. Spoke about the history of Bonsai in Japan along the way. Had a nice lunch at a local cafe where we practiced some bonsai techniques before visiting another larger garden. All in all a great experience with a fantastic guide. Would absolutely recommend to anyone looking for a break away from the busy Tokyo metropolis.

Really amazing experience with June, our teacher/guide. Start of with Bonsai city itself. Off Toro station, it is a quiet paced breath of fresh air. Open streets, not crowed, and all locals. Our guide/teacher, June, met us promptly at the train station. A third generation bonsai expert- he has knowledge, fun, laid back and spoke excellent English. We started with a tour of two nurseries - with some of the most amazing trees I have ever seen. Could not take pics as- sadly, prior posting of visitors (not associated with this session) led them to bring targeted. So while no pics of nursery/ I assure you they were large and spectacular. More impressive, we got to spend a great deal of time looking at specimens that peaked our interest. June would answer any and all. Leisurely and no pressure. After that we went to a local coffee shop and took an upstairs room and had our training. He brought multiple specimens and showed my son and I how to trim, wire, and cut back three different trees. He was very patient and made it all fun. I could not more highly recommend this learning experience, if you are interested in Bonsai at all/ it should be a must for anyone visiting Tokyo. Even if just passing interest in bonsai- this is low cost guide to experience a quiet part of Japan. You won’t regret it.

We can only recommend that you discover bonsai culture with Yun-san. A professional in horticultural sales and having studied bonsai culture, he was able to explain to us the different types of pruning, the species, and the history while visiting the garden and then the Saitama bonsai museum. The activity that followed allowed us to understand how to grow, direct and maintain the shape, and maintain the pruning of a bonsai. He was very educational and very kind throughout the 3 hours of the tour and workshop. We really enjoyed this time 1 hour by train from the center of Tokyo.

I booked this experience several weeks in advance for April 1, 2025 for myself and my partner. When we arrived at Toro Station (near Omiya Bonsai Villa), after 1 h and 30 min by train from Tokyo, there was no one waiting for us. In fact, no one ever arrived to meet us and after exchanging messages with Viator, we concluded that, despite having received confirmation of the experience, we could not experience it and had to return to Tokyo. They literally forgot about us, on a day when it was raining and difficult to make other plans in Omiya. Eventually, we got our money back, but the vacation day was almost lost. If you value your time in Japan, do not book this experience with such an unserious Enterprise working.