Imagine having something stolen and posting a message on Facebook about how to care for it, hoping that at least the thieves will take care of it? That's exactly what happened to a Japanese couple who had no fewer than seven incredibly valuable bonsai trees, some over 400 years old, stolen. This is their curious story.
Very valuable bonsai and with special needs
A couple from Saitama, Tokyo Prefecture (Japan), devoted to their private bonsai garden, recently reported the theft of seven valuable specimens of these miniature trees, valued at over 13 million yen (approximately €103.000). So far, nothing particularly surprising—well, except for the exorbitant prices these shrubs can fetch.
However, we have learned an extra detail related to this event that deserves a few lines here: its caretakers, desperate about the situation, have ended up publishing instructions for the care of the bonsai on their social networks , with the aim and hope that the thieves will at least read them and know how to treat them so that they do not die.
It's no wonder, given their price and the time they require to maintain. One of the stolen specimens is a Juniperus chinensis 'Shimpaku' bonsai , valued at nearly 10 million yen (around €79.000), which was being specially prepared for a competition. This small tree needs daily care and a specific amount of water to remain at its best.
Specifically, this Shimpaku , one meter tall and 70 centimeters wide, is several centuries old and was removed from a mountain by the ancestors of the couple's husband, who, like the rest of his family, has always been dedicated to the art of bonsai. Since then, it has been passed down from generation to generation until it came into the hands of the current couple.
“We treat these miniature trees like our children,” says Fuyumi Iimura, the woman. "There are no words to describe how we feel. It's like having your limbs cut off."
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Iimura is convinced the thieves are professionals who know what they're doing, because they've taken precisely the most valuable specimens from her extensive garden. And we're talking about practically a park with 3.000 bonsai trees , which is quite a lot, so they not only knew which ones to take: it was probably a heist they'd planned for some time, knowing exactly where the garden's greatest wild treasures were located.
Let's hope at least that the thieves have heeded the recommendations given on social networks by this couple so that the bonsais continue to enjoy such good health. What choice but to settle for that.