If you think changes occur slower than a snail in Japan, you had better watch out you don't get run over by Lisa TAJIMA. "I think it is very cool to make both traditional and pop bonsai," says the devoted fan of this ancient art. The Kanto native gets a big kick from breaking the rules and has done so ever since she began studying traditional bonsai in 1999.

When she returned to Japan after attending college in the U.S.A, Lisa worked as a radio DJ and TV program host before she jumped into bonsai. After studying traditional bonsai, she conjured up her own eye-popping style of bonsai which she calls, "pop bonsai."

Pop bonsai is a hot, new, freestyle adaptation of the traditional art of growing small trees that is beginning to attract attention. While traditional bonsai has many guidelines, pop bonsai throws the rulebook out the window and allows practitioners to grow and display bonsai in ways that fully express their imagination.

"Pop bonsai is for people who are living right now," Lisa explains. "With pop bonsai, the focus is on expressing yourself. If you make your own bonsai, it becomes like your pet or a friend." Many of Lisa's pop bonsai are grown in handmade pots with legs and no matter which way you view them, they look almost alive and you get the feeling they are going to get up and walk out the door.

"I really enjoy making new style of bonsai," she says. "The shape may be very nice today but in a few months it will have changed. The method of growing a tree is the same regardless of whether you are practicing traditional or pop bonsai. What is different is how you play, or arrange the shape of the bonsai."

I was an alien in the traditional bonsai world
Lisa feels many people think bonsai is very difficult, expensive and rule-bound. "When I began studying traditional bonsai, I did not aim to break the rules. But I always wondered, 'Why can't I do this?' or 'Why can't I do that?' I am an alien in the traditional bonsai world but that is OK with me and I have a lot of fun," she says with a laugh. "I am still learning traditional bonsai and although I like and respect traditional bonsai, I also want to develop my own style. I want to have the ability to do both."

Lisa has received mixed reaction to her work. "Some people in the traditional bonsai world do not like pop bonsai but some do. It is just like music - some people like rock music and others don't. But I can be good friends with traditional bonsai people if we respect each other and share ideas, although I am not expecting everyone to love me. Many younger Japanese never considered studying bonsai before they met me and now they think that if I can do it, they can too."

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