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 UK’S STRONGEST SCHOOLGIRL attributes her success to the bendy-body condition that once left her body wracked in pain .
What lies beneath this building site? Britain's great hope of winning the pre-WW2 arms race against Nazi Germany .
BOXING DAY has come early for this pair of feisty squirrels, as their Christmas party quickly turns sour .
This longhorn beetle demon-strates a dark side as it looks just like the devil .
FOR TWO memory-impaired parents their new-born baby Cian is a living timekeeper .
Hot on the heels of a little rabbit, this cheetah is on a mission to catch his prey .
Meet the real life anime girl who looks like a living cartoon character despite never going under the knife .
A project to create an underwater tribute to the stone Moai statues of Easter Island ended in disaster when 15 replica structures were destroyed after toppling from a boat and into the sea .
This may look like a monster car engine that will leave petrol heads in a spin, but it is in fact a rather snazzy looking COFFEE MACHINE .
Armed with a snorkel, flippers and her skimpy bikini, an intrepid female free diver swims alongside an array of reef sharks .
Pictures of John Anslow a prisoner who escaped from a prison escort van in North Worcestershire Monday, 23 January .