Since early 2024, a series of thefts have affected Japan’s bonsai community, with some losses ranging from $20,000 to $120,000; so what exactly makes these miniature trees prime targets?
Research traces the origins of bonsai—the art of growing ornamental, artificially dwarfed trees or shrubs—to China’s Tang dynasty, roughly 2,000 years ago (referred to as penjing). The practice spread, traveling to neighboring Japan, which gave the art its widely-used name. Since then, the country has housed some of the most respected bonsai growers in the world, yielding incredibly valuable trees. Unfortunately, Japan’s bonsai community has been experiencing a wave of thefts. English news sites like The Asahi Shimbun and Firstpost started reporting incidents around May 2024, and Bloomberg released another report on stolen bonsai trees in March 2025.
One bonsai seller told Firstpost that 33 of their trees, with a total value of $120,000, were stolen in a single heist. In another theft reported by Kyodo News, a bonsai worth roughly $19,110 was stolen. In its 2025 report, Mia Glass of Bloomberg stated that $20,000 worth of bonsai in Japan’s Gunma prefecture were purloined from a shop in the dead of night. She added that the Nippon Bonsai Growers Cooperative reported around 30 cases of theft in 2024.
To those outside the world of bonsai growers and appreciators, these thefts seem perplexing. Why go out of your way to steal a miniature tree when there are other goods to choose from? But as the numbers show, bonsai can be incredibly valuable—especially those grown in Japan.
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Living Sculptures
“Bonsai” refers to both the art of growing miniature trees, and the arboreal specimens themselves. Any tree can become a bonsai, since the name doesn’t refer to a single species, but rather, the way in which a tree is treated. Those who love bonsai refer to them as “living sculptures,” mainly because of the amount of work it takes to manipulate them into the eye-catching forms we’ve come to know.
Creating a bonsai involves years of pruning, pinching, grafting, repotting, and wiring to restrict a tree’s growth and achieve a desired result. Bonsai get their unique silhouettes or shapes through the guidance of a wire, which the grower twists and controls to act like a brace, helping encourage the tree’s trunk and branches to grow a particular way. Even the act of repotting is a delicate one, where a tree’s health hangs in the balance. Checking for diseases and ensuring the tree’s overall condition is also a time and resource-consuming process.
Yet the results, as one can see from the most prized bonsai, are well worth the toil. The trees appear to defy physics, swooping, swirling, and splitting into complex forms, seemingly organically (we know this isn’t the case). Such works can only be achieved through a meticulous dance between man-made artistry and nature’s rhythms.
Years In The Making
Bonsai growers can’t achieve results quickly, since the art requires great perseverance and patience. The image is familiar to fans of The Karate Kid franchise: Mr. Miyagi, the wizened master, quietly and with great concentration, trimming and tending to his beloved bonsai.
To begin with, trees take years to grow. As fourth-generation bonsai master Chiako Yamamoto tells Business Insider, it takes a minimum of 15 to 20 years for her to grow, then maintain, the small bonsai saplings. While she’s been in the profession for more than 50 years, she knows she’ll need to pass on her young trees to the next generation for them to reach their full potential.
Of course, there are those that stray from the conventional through innovative processes, such as the renowned Masahiko Kimura, who made a name for himself through the use of specially-designed power tools to shape trees in unusual, marvelous ways. But for the most part, the very core of the process has remained the same for thousands of years—after all, no matter what you do, you can’t rush nature.
Typically, the older a bonsai is, the more valuable it becomes—some so priceless, they’re not for sale, simply kept within the same family for years. The Yamaki pine, for example, was cared for by the eponymous Yamaki family for 400 years—even surviving the Hiroshima bomb.
That said, Yamamoto states that quality still plays a crucial role in determining a bonsai’s price: even an older bonsai, if not in prime shape, can lose its value. Tree type also plays a role in determining value, with rare species fetching far higher prices.
The Zen And Wabi-Sabi Of Bonsai
The patience inherent in growing bonsai is vastly different from the sense of instant gratification common in today’s society. It’s why the art form is highly cherished in Buddhist Zen philosophy, which emphasizes austerity, viewing a single tree as a symbol for the entire universe. Zen Buddhism believes patience and discipline are key to combating the meaninglessness of existence—which is why growing bonsai has become a meditative, exemplary practice of the philosophy.
Wabi-sabi, the acceptance of imperfections and life’s transient things, is also evident in bonsai. Oftentimes the oldest trees with the most uniquely asymmetrical shapes are what many consider to be the most beautiful in the art.
Easy But Lucrative Targets
According to data from Business Research Insights, the bonsai market was valued at around $8 billion in 2024. This will steadily increase to around $22 million by 2033. The proliferation and growing appreciation of Japanese culture is one of the main reasons why the demand for bonsai has increased considerably. And where there’s large demand, there’s an opportunity for illegal practices.
It doesn’t help that most bonsai shops need to place their trees outdoors, giving thieves easier access. Grabbing the trees and making a run for it is also simple since they’re potted, making bonsai a “portable” target as Glass points out in her article for Bloomberg. As such, shop owners in Japan have become more vigilant, setting up extra security measures to ensure their bonsai are safe.
When growers lose their bonsai, they not only lose parts of their livelihood—they also witness living representations of human care and creativity reduced to nothing but fast cash.
