On the affair of the State Visit to the UK , His Majesty the Emperor of Japan tour the Royal Botanic Gardens , Kew to celebrate the rich account of Kew ’s coaction with Japan and the Japanese Royal Family , and to get wind more about scientific and preservation efforts between the UK and Japan .
The tour of Kew , which marked one of the net stage of the State Visit , began in the historic Temperate House where the Emperor was greet by Richard Deverell , OBE , managing director of RBG Kew .
Richard said : " We were honored to receive His Majesty the Emperor to the Royal Botanic Gardens , Kew . We have had a longstanding and close-fitting relationship with Japan which can be seen through beautiful structures in our landscape as well as in our living collection , economic botany , and art collections . In 2021 we keep the relationship through a rattling month - farsighted Nipponese fete in the Temperate House . We are specially proud too of the scientific links we have through our Millennium Seed Bank in Wakehurst which include of import conservation study under the Global Tree Seed Bank Programme , amongst other achievements . "
preservation and art on video display at KewInside the strait-laced glasshouse , the Emperor was introduce with material from Kew ’s Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst , which is abode to the worldly concern ’s tumid collection of more than 2.4 billion untamed plant seeds from more than 97 countries . Dr Elinor Breman , Senior Research Leader at the seed cant highlight several collections , including seminal fluid banked from tree that survived the Hiroshima atomic bomb and which are now being grow under the Global Tree Seed Bank Programme with the University of the Ryukyus and Kyushu University for conservation in Hokkaido , Kyushu and Okinawa .
The Emperor was then presented with five graphics by Kew ’s resident botanical illustrator Masumi Yamanaka , who has worked at Kew since 2006 and whose elaborate illustrations aid scientific efforts to describe new metal money of plants . The paintings on showing were : the Japanese Pagoda Tree , Tulip Tree , Miracle Pine , Indian horse cavalry chestnut ( Summer ) , and Indian horse chestnut tree ( Autumn ) .
The tour continued with the Emperor meeting Paul Denton , Head of Visitor Programmes and Exhibitions , and British artist Marc Quinn , whose metallic sculptures are prominently displayed in the Temperate House and across Kew Gardens as part of the summertime plan Marc Quinn : brightness level into Life . A fundamental constituent of the exposition includes carry by Desire in the Temperate House – two 5m - tall bonsai trees cast in bronze and wall by lifespan - sized sculptures and specimen from Kew ’s own collection of bonsai trees .
The Emperor then take on horticulturist Richard Kernick , who maintain Kew ’s collection of about 60 bonsai trees , the oldest of which is 180 years previous , and which can be admired in Kew ’s Bonsai House .
Richard explained : " Often thought to be gnome forms of trees , Bonsai is , in fact , miniature trees that have been expertly pruned and form to prevent them from growing to their raw full size . This intricate and precise art frame transforms tree diagram into midget living treasures . A survive bonsai is a never - finished artwork that usually outlives its artist . Inheriting a tree is like being a rung on a ladder – there are often many rungs behind and hopefully many rung forward . "
germ : kew.org
