My brief visit to Japan included a tour of Omiya, a bonsai village about one hour trains ride out of Tokyo. The more nurseries I visited there, the more this exclusive feeling crept in. Then to break the ice, since language attempts were getting me no where fast, I whipped out my photo album of my pathetic bonsai collection and proudly showed it to an owner. The only response I can remember was one guttural grunt sound. My wife grabbed it out of my hands and quickly stowed it away in her travel bag. I never did understand that scene. I do now.
To reverse this scenario, if I have a visitor, maybe potential buyer, and he or she visits my bonsai collection and proceeds to walk around and pick my very best few for availability, I get this exclusive phenomonae feeling too and usually....always chace them away or change the topic for sure. It becomes a right or privilege to view something you spent 20 years careing for.
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