Monday morning 8 November, it was out of the hotel early to catch the Bullet Train to Fukuoka where the train arrives at the terminal in Hakata. Having to stand for the first hour of the journey, I was able to get a seat at Shin-Osaka.

On arrival at Hakata Terminal I changed to a local train and, after counting the stations, I alighted at Togo. After a short wait I was able to catch a bus to the Munakata-taisha Shrine where the Western Japan Chrysanthemum Show and the 8th International Chrysanthemum Conference was to be held.

Again help was at hand. On my getting off the bus, a Japanese gentleman - and speaking almost perfect English, could see that ‘I was a stranger in this here territory’ and offered me assistance. He wasn’t an official, he was just a visitor to the show like me but he virtually took me under his wing.

Unlike the Nagoya and Takefu shows, there was no entrance fee. However, there were quite a lot of plant and fruit stalls plus some food and craft outlets. There were no chrysanthemum dolls here but there was plenty of everything else. Fukusuke (a dwarf single-bloom plant), Daruma, ‘Cherry Blossom’ style (weeping) multi-graft ’trees‘, bonsai, lots and lots of cascades and ‘tree-at-a-distance’ ( whereby a well weathered pine stump is set into a deep rectangular pot and about nine or ten cascade variety plants are planted at the back of the stump – stripping all unwanted stems and leaves away – and the ‘tops’ are trained to flower as ‘plates’ horizontally). Next season I will look around for a piece of old wood and give it a go using a variety called ‘Red Burst’. Members of the Western Japan Chrysanthemum Society also put on quite a number of individual multi-specimen displays each in an area of about twelve square metres.

After meeting up with visitors from America and England who I knew from previous conferences that I had attended, plus a number of Japanese people I had previously met in Perth and Canada – we all got wet in a shower of rain – it was off to our respective hotels to get ready for the evening’s reception.

The reception, itself, was fairly short, for all the ‘nitty-gritty’ was due the next day. After the reception though, a bit of multi-culturalism took place with four Americans and one Australian all enjoying a Chinese meal in the Japanese hotel.

© 2000 Bruce Skeen/Paul Barlow

Follow Bruce on his travels by choosing each day in turn:

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7

If you would like further information or wish to comment on this publication please send your e-mail to: paul.barlow@chrysanthemums.info

Last updated on 22 December, 2001