Gandalf, You missed the point. What I am geting at is to be true to the spirit of bonsai a progression is needed BEYOND thanking the Japanese/Chinese for their cultural "gift" to us. If we are to really practice bonsai, as the Japanese do, we have to stop the "hero" worship and get on with it. Of course the Japanese (Chinese, Koreans, South Asians, etc.) are due credit and honor for developing bonsai. The cultural debt is a deep one. However, retaining "the Japanese do it better" inferiority complex won't help us in the least. Bonsai is a dying art in its homeland(s). It's known as an old man's passtime in Japan by and large. The cultural revolution in China pretty much squelched it there. Things are changing in both places. The market for bad mass produced mallsai in Japan is a fast growing one--so much for tradition. China is struggling to emerge as a world power and is struggling with traditions as well. Bonsai's primary driver in the coming decades will be the West and I'm not being an insensitive cultural barbarian. This thought isn't mine. It's been voiced by more than a few Chinese and Japanese bonsai people. Check out this thought in books like Wee Yu Sun's Artistic Potted Plants, or in the statements of more than a couple of Japanese artists over the last few decades. "The term "Americanization" comes to mind. Cultures/peoples/countries across the world resent the fact that their younger counterparts give up on or quit practicing the old beliefs and adopt a "Western" attitude, just so they can be chic or fit in in the popularized way the "Modern/Western" world is." And please stop with the "big bad America" rap. It's quite a tiresome, lazy argument and doesn't apply to Japan in the least. Japan has long been in the "first world" and on the cutting edge of modern technology for quite some time. That's pretty apparent to anyone with a television or a computer. However, in becoming that modern economic power, the Japanese are losing alot of traditions. The country is undergoing a tremendous population shift and dropping traditions right and left. Bonsai is one of those arts. What I am arguing is not to be trapped into thinking that we in the West have nothing to offer bonsai. We do. In fact, we may become its principle repository as Japan's culture continues to change. For what it's worth, you might do some more detailed research on the history of bonsai. The long 1,300 year history you've cited is misleading. There is a huge difference in what was done in China a millenium ago and what the Japanese are doing now. The Chinese collected trees and plunked them into containers without altering them. A majority of the meticulously groomed award winning Japanese bonsai that one sees now in shows and in books have been bonsai for only a short 100 years or less--which is the rough time frame in which bonsai took firm root as a popular passtime in Japan. The gulf between the original Chinese animism, tree spirit container plant and the primped, wire-groomed, power tool-carved Japanese bonsai today is a pretty huge one. I think there may be a thesis in how modern power tools and modern manufacturing capabilities (wire, tools, etc) have dramatically influenced the advancement of bonsai...

hehe hi digit :) there's almost 200 different types of kimchi & not all of them are spicy. :) there's several water kimchis that are delicious & sweet.. one uses asian pears & green onions in some sweet water (i liked that one) & another uses cubed radish chunks in sweet water. heck, americans eat a form of cucumber kimchi & they don't even realize it! vinegar & water with onions & cucumber = kimchi. lol cabbage kimchi is called tong baechu kimchi, baechu = cabbage :) it's easy to make, but very time consuming. oh.. i found one of my cook books & it told me what type of mustard koreans use for seasoning their kimchi.. it's called indian mustard in english. in korean, it's "kat". the book says it's a member of the brassica juncea family & has brownish or reddish-brown seeds... but it didn't say anything about mustard leaf kimchi. :( they also use wild rocambole (allium monanthum) & ixeris sonchifolia.. my pepper plants were started inside, don't worry :) they're outside now, though, getting some real sun. it's been too cold to do anything outside. up til this past week, it was freezing at night. looks like we're good to go now, though. :) as for radishes & carrots, oklahoma summers get sooooooooo hot. sometimes well over 100 degrees with 80+ % humidity.. and the soil here is very much like clay. i could go in my back yard & dig up a buuuuunch of clay. :D lol want some? :D haha so.. about the pelleted carrot seeds.. do you just put them in clay & then plant them? or do you have to let them dry first, like you do with seed balls? :) i'm not actually using the soil we have in the backyard, though.. unfortunately, i rent. all my stuff is in pots or boxes outside.. but i have big pots & boxes! lol :) and thank you jimster for telling me about pine nuts. :D i always heard they were expensive!.. but i'll have to go check it out. :) best wishes, ~ Candy

Once we get rid of the K-word, maybe can move on to other words that are used offensively somewhere on the planet. Let's just stick with the botanical offenses tonight. There's the 'E word' (E is for eg*plan*) as everyone knows that both the English word and an Italian equivalent have been (and in some circles still are) used pejoratively for blacks. Then there's the 'P-word' (Plan*ain or its Spanish equivalent pla*ano) because its used derogatorily for Dominicans. Don't even get me started with the 'F-word', no not that one. F*uit has been and continues to be used as a pejorative for homosexuals. But enough about the produce. Once a word is coined, it frequently goes on to evolve and be used in different contexts, sometimes inflammatory. The word 'Kaffir' was used by the Arabs of the slave trade to refer to their trade (Africans). It's interesting to note that the word itself means 'infidel', so I'm assuming that Caucasian non-Muslims, would likewise fall into that inferior caste of humanity known as 'Kaffir'. Later on, the word would be adopted by racist whites in South Africa and used against blacks (having lost its religious pejorative tone and taking on a purely racial one). Personally, I don't see a reason why Americans need to avoid the word because of a group of ignorant, white racists in South Africa or because of its original use as a religious slur against non-Muslims--the word in this hemisphere refers to a citrus tree and no more. For those of you who ARE still offended by the word, you can always Citrus hysterix or Indonesian Lime (so as to include Asians others that Thais).

Mike-san, Thank you :) I am very flattered, and very glad, to be among your favorite people. You are one of my very favorite people, too :) :) :) You are right in that while I try to be happy with what I have, I also am constantly wondering how I might improve it :) I read somewhere that while Americans believe in the "pursuit of happiness", many Asians think that we are born happy with no need to going running after anything. I keep forgetting and re-learning this :) Perhaps I need to spend more time reading and trying to understand what you and others have written about Buddhism :) Please tell me the history of the Ryoan-ji garden. I doubt that I will be disappointed, unless it turns out that it came in of those "Zen-garden-in-a-box" kits that they sell in bookstores :) :) :) my warm regards, Evelyn PS. Based on the example of your friends who own restaurants and your friend with the PhD, maybe you should stop trying to improve your English (even try to forget some) so that you can get rich, too :) :) :)