These are the fascinating pictures of miniature table sculptures molded around bonsai trees that take up to a painstaking 18 months to create. Japanese illustrator Takanori Aiba, 58, has built the intriguing scale models of windmills, lighthouses and even the Michelin Man.He delicately uses craft paper, plaster, acrylic resin, paint and plastic to create the host of sprawling miniature communities that wrap around the tiny trees.Following his work as an illustrator for Japanese fashion magazine POPYE he has spent the last nine years producing the detailed mini worlds.The creations take at least three months to construct with his Ice Cream Package Tower taking an astonishing 18 months work. Since 2003, he has made eight models, with 10 more planned over the next few years.
THE TOWERING Irish cliffs of Moher stand tall over the rippling Atlantic Ocean .
LEAPING through the air this determined little mouse is on a mission for food .
With the full moon looming behind him, this polar bear nestles down for the night .
Hot on the heels of a little rabbit, this cheetah is on a mission to catch his prey .
A mother-of-four has revealed how her daughter was stabbed to death by her ex partner, while their horrified children watched on .
HEARTWARMING belongings lie abandoned in this eerie former dairy farm which has been left to crumble away for decades .
A gang whose £1-million supercar scam has echoes of the film Gone In Sixty Seconds has been jailed for a total of 12 years .
A coroner stunned an inquest into a honeymooner who died abroad today by asking her husband if he was involved in her drugs death .
CONTRACT CANCELLED - DO NOT SYNDICATE!! .
This frozen lighthouse in Michigan could easily be mistaken for a still from the snow swept disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow .
A mum has celebrated each of her four pregnancies with a host of wacky stunts - including acrobatics, aerial contortion, pole-dancing and risque photo shoots .
Ornate chandeliers and mahogany panelling give a glimpse into this abandoned building's former glory after it's been left to rot for the past decade .