I grew up watching my grandfather tend a juniper on the back porch of his house in Kyoto. He never rushed. He would stand there for ten minutes just looking at the tree before touching it. I did not understand that until I had my own trees.

I trained formally under a third-generation master in Osaka for three years before moving to Portland in 2009. I brought four trees with me. The Pacific Northwest climate is actually wonderful for bonsai — the humidity, the mild winters, the long growing season. I fell in love with it here.

I started writing about bonsai because the English-language information was terrible. Most of it was either too vague to be useful or written by people who had clearly never kept a tree alive past year two. I wanted to write the guides I wished existed when I was learning: specific, honest about what kills trees, and written with respect for the art.