JAPAN BONSAI 編集部 
A gardening shop where everyone can enjoy bonsai
A 12-minute walk from Tokorozawa Station on the Seibu Line, Tokorozawa Horticulture Center is located near Tokorozawa Aviation Memorial Park, the first airfield in Japan.
It is a gardening shop loved by locals who has been in business for three generations with parents for 45 years.
There is only a specialty store that handles abundant flower seedlings and horticultural materials. From the beginning of gardening to the veteran who wants to purchase rare plants, the customer service and assortment are very satisfying.
Although it is such Tokorozawa Horticulture Center, it is also a bonsai store known to those who know it.
We interviewed the manager, Hiroki Suzuki (29).
Bonsai at the gardening center?
The bonsai section and the bonsai classroom where the bonsai classroom was set up after Hiroki’s father and former manager, Morio, became a bonsai lover.
The love of bonsai has been passed down to Hiroki-san, and while he sells bonsai (there is also an EC shop) and outsources the work of dressing up, he also teaches in the bonsai class with Morio.
The day I visited was just a Sunday when classrooms were held.
In the style of arranging bonsai at their favorite time, about 10 students worked in harmony while talking about each other’s trees.
In the classroom, they hold an exhibition twice a year in the spring and fall, and in summer they also hold bus tours around the bonsai garden.
A place where everyone can enjoy bonsai
We want to increase the number of lovers, not just selling bonsai.
Mr. Hiroki says that the important thing for that is to carefully treat the customers in front of them.
If you don’t understand anything, ask them to hear it immediately, or tell them your LINE or phone number.
In the future, Mr. Hiroki said he would like to focus on one-day classrooms for those who touch bonsai for the first time.
As a store manager, he has been busy, but since he loves bonsai from the ground up, he still visits other bonsai gardens and continues to learn techniques, and this job seemed to be fun and unavoidable.
If you have the opportunity, please go to Tokorozawa Horticulture Center with such a manager.
Access to Tokorozawa Engei Center
27-16 Asahicho, Tokorozawa City, Saitama
TEL04-2992-0455
Regular holiday: No holiday in April, May and December, Wednesday and Thursday in January and February
Closed on Wednesdays in other months
Please feel free to contact us by phone before visiting.
(Open all day on Saturdays and Sundays with bonsai classes)
