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.
N evil mugger who battered a Birmingham old soldier and fled with just £40 has been jailed for nine years .
One sheepdog is taking a well-deserved rest after giving birth to a whole WHEELBARROW-FUL of puppies .
AN ANOREXIC dental nurse whose weight plummeted to less than four stone has won her NHS fight for more treatment .
The aurora lights captured in Blair Nebraska, America - WITH electrifying purple and illuminous green brightening up the night sky, this is the rare moment a flash of 'sprite' lightening was captured on camera .
Playing, splashing and generally messing around, these polar bears show they certainly have a soft spot for the water, and not just each other .
COURAGEOUS CLIMBERS scale frozen waterfalls in Canada, as the ice threatens to collapse beneath them .
TWIN SISTERS from Australia have taken their sisterly bond to the extreme by spending £150,000 to look IDENTICAL .
A former size 30 comfort-eater ditched her husband and lost over 10st after he called her a 'fat cow' .
Bryanna Debinder, 20, from Pennsylvania in the USA, has lost 7 stone in order to impress her idol .
WITH a paw in the air and his tongue hanging from his mouth, it is clear to see that this little groundhog is struggling to wake up and leave behind the comfort of his burrow .