bunjingi

Jeffery,
Yes, I have seen this done BUT in Japan and, to a certain extent, California. There are two conditions that, along with personal experience with this species, are vital to achieve this. One is climatic and the other is technique. In Japan, I visited a grower who is recognized as being one of the best at doing this (when I get home tonight I can post a picture of his 3 year old JBP's that are grown this way). We also visited the person who was featured in that article in BT - he is quite old now and does not do as much as he used to. The climate in Japan where these trees originate is perfect for their rapid development. Kenji Miyata is using a somewhat similar technique now in California (as are many others) with similar results. So, to acheive these results QUICKLY, you need the optimal climatic conditions. It will work best in environments that mirror the climate of origin. I have tried this here in New England and simply can't get that rapid a development (think about growing tropical up here in zone 5-6!). Our zone (and yours) puts us near the cold threshold for these trees as far as their optimal growth. It takes me 2-3 times as long to get what they achieve in their climate.
Secondly is technique. This we CAN control (and possibly modify to work in our particular climate). Using very well drained soil mixes, feeding robustly, watering abundantly, using colanders, etc. - in the growing stages - are all part of this. The person we visited in japan who specialized in this technique used ONLY coarse sand to grow these trees in during the develpment stages! (no akadama, etc.) He also used the colander method and abundant fertilization and watering).
You will notice in that article in BT that, after a year or two in the smaller collander, the collander simply placed in a larger one. One of the benefits of this is that you do not get the growth slowdown that occurs with repotting! Since the trees roots are not touched, the growth simply continues at a steady pace with some roots extending into the second larger collander, while many finer roots stay in the smaller one. In colder climates it may be faster to acheive this by growing the developing trees simply in the ground first. However, to get the nice taper, you will need to pay attention to the trees development by pruning, etc. at the right time.

John Romano
Rhode Island, USA the shohin state