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.
ALL IS not as it seems in these deceptive cityscapes .
THIS incredible shimmer of silver fish mirrors the image of that of an underwater tornado .
A teacher has told how she was attacked by a murderer on her way home from a night out but courageously managed to charm him out of strangling her .
WITH THEIR adorable big round eyes and fluffy white fur, these baby seals are cute enough to melt any heart .
SITTING quietly at the edge of the lake, these two baby bears watch and learn as the adults hunt for fish .
A soap bubble lands on the frosty ground and creates a shimmering snow globe as crystals form around it .
A woman brutally beaten in a revenge attack has slammed the soft sentence handed to her assailant .
A mother-of-three who weighed almost 16st has revealed how she lost 7 .
A TEN-THOUSAND square foot wide Avatar-style grove is such a beauty it will leave you feeling VINE .
A brave leopard kicks back and relaxes in the sunshine - just inches from an enormous crocodile .
This cheeky macaque gets up close and personal as he examines the dental hygiene of his fellow primate .
A coroner stunned an inquest into a honeymooner who died abroad today by asking her husband if he was involved in her drugs death .