Japan's flower industry flourished in the 1990s during the global gardening boom but has been stalled by deflation and overproduction, bringing about a collapse of prices.

Producers are trying to develop new species, including blue roses recently marketed, but only 40 percent of households in Japan buy cut flowers more than once a year.

In the latter half of the 1990s, producers dreamed of a 5 trillion yen market, unworried by the preceding collapse of the bubble economy, but the era of fast sales was short-lived.