Japan's ancient art of bonsai threatened by waning interest among youth

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Masashi Hirao exudes the calm you'd expect of a bonsai master.

He speaks softly and appears to glide — not walk — as he moves around a bonsai tree with his golden scissors held aloft.

The act absorbs him, his eyes dart from branch to branch as he spins the artwork on its platform, carefully inspecting it from every angle.

"When I first saw a bonsai tree it reminded me instantly of the view and smell of the mountain where I played in Tokushima when I was young. That's how I entered the bonsai world," he says.

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