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gardening

Oh shiitake! How to grow your own with Japan’s super-easy mushroom cultivation kit【Photos】

Home gardening doesn’t get any easier, or much quicker, than this!

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Potted mini sakura trees are perfect for everyone who missed cherry blossom season this year

Specially cultivated to bloom after they arrive at your home, these trees will provide sakura memories for years to come.

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Tatsumasa Murasame: A hunk with Japanese landscaping skills…and Japanese citizenship

People in Japan are swooning after discovering the many talents of this foreign-born gardener who gave up his original nationality to become Japanese.

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Potted plant that grows tiny leaping dolphins is the latest botanical muse to enchant Japan

Adorable houseplant is a relative of the hot dog cactus.

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Japanese Twitter users lament that they can only grow potted cats 【Pics】

These people might not have a green thumb, but their results are much cuter.

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Breathtaking Japanese moss garden cafe is like a real-life setting for a Studio Ghibli anime film

With amazing outdoor eating spaces set on moss-covered grounds in the middle of the woods, this is a secret haven for lovers of nature and Studio Ghibli.

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Japanese stationery now sprouts herbs in your garden with the Blooming Pencil

Once its life as a pencil is over, this innovative piece of stationery will colour your garden by blooming into a variety of edible plants.

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Stylish Japanese home gardening pod lets you grow vegetables indoors with little effort, no soil

No back yard? No problem.

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Castle in the Sky becomes a Ghibli decoration in your home with cool Laputa hanging planter

So a friend and I have a debate about what happens at the end of the Studio Ghibli anime movie Castle in the Sky Laputa. As the credits roll, the floating island is seen drifting into space, which I, as is my simple-minded nature, take literally. On the other hand, my friend argues that the visuals are at least partly metaphoric, and that the mysterious landmass didn’t really escape Earth’s orbit (he also contends that my proposed Laputa/Space Dandy crossover/sequel is too silly to ever get made).

But while it’s likely Laputa director and creator Hayao Miyazai purposely chose to craft an ambiguous ending to the film, we do now know what happened to the island: it became this awesome hanging planter from anime retailer Benelic.

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Start a horticultural revolution with gourds in the shape of Mao Zedong and more!

China certainly knows how to have fun with their vegetation. If they’re not putting panties on peaches, they’re growing gourds in the shape of various religious and political figures.

China has a long history of making art and figures out of gourds and more recently the process has been simplified so that any Joe Schmoe can make his own Jesus squash or garden full of dangling Mao Zedongs. All it takes are some molds and a good ol’ green thumb.

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LED plant factories offer efficient 3D alternative to traditional gardening

The concept of plant factories is not a new one. Especially in space-strapped Japan, the idea of a compact garden that can simulate a natural environment in a tight urban area is highly desirable.

Keystone Technologies is one Japanese company that has been constantly refining their LED garden technology. Currently they boast a system that can fit about a quarter acre’s worth of crops into a space of a hotel’s single-room, and that’s just the beginning.

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