Variations 
var. ozawae 
This small evergreen shrub grows 150 mm (6 in) tall by 600 mm (2 ft) wide forming a compact mounded habit. It is very cold hardy and is planted in rockeries or small gardens along front borders.

var. hypoglaucum
This rare shrub has obovate to oblong dark green leaves with sessile scales on both surfaces and produces yellowish flowers in clusters during a late spring. It is naturally found in Honshu but is not commonly cultivated.

Cultivar
'Yaku Fairy'
This slow-growing dwarf alpine shrub attains a height of 150 mm (6 in) in 10 years with olive green lanceolate leaves and forms a low mounded to prostrate habit. It produces creamy yellow to white broad funnelform flowers during mid-spring, in small sessile trusses. 

This sub-shrub prefers an open sunny to partially shade position and grows in very well-drained rocky-sandy soils that are tending acidic in USDA zones 7-9.