Ryan Neal article in The New Yorker

[rockm]

Did he really work 15 hours per day ? It means that if he starts to work at 8.00 a.m he finishes at 11.00 p.m after 15 hours of work non stop ?
If he eats at lunch time for 1 hour, it means he finishes the day at midnight !? So it means that he would work in greenhouses with artificial lighting on early morning and late afternoon/evening/night.

From talking with some folks who have been there, that kind of time can be common at some of the more notable bonsai nurseries, particularly during exhibition time and before client visits. Some "masters" are more demanding than others. Kimura sounds like a ballbuster. It's one of the reasons nurseries are using Western-born apprentices. The younger crowd in Japan doesn't see bonsai as a viable career path nowadays.