Wednesday 17 February 2016

Wednesday.

It started out with pretty heavy snow this morning and it just kept going all day. We had a few messages to do this morning including Rene submitting export papers, buying tosai at Torazo and calling at the wholesalers. We took time also to look in at one of Marudo's facilities.

By the time we reached Yamazaki he was busy so we had to postpone our visit there. We took the opportunity to do some shopping before lunch then headed up to see Kaneko again. Shane had a Showa he wanted to see again. Here are some pics from Kaneko.




I selected 2 bowls of koi:



We had a cup of coffee with Kaneko san and it was a great opportunity to ask a few questions.


We spent a fair bit of time at Matsunosuke too. You can see by the photos how much the snow was building up.





Tuesday 16 February 2016

Tuesday.

Today we started out with a visit to Hirasawa (Marusei) to try and sort out a few special orders. We lifted some sansai chagoi, ogons and a kigoi. (3yrs, approx. 60-63cm).



Also some beautiful koi for a special order. There are so many amazing fish to choose from.

Next we drove up to Shinoda, but he is mostly sold out so we didn't buy there this year. It was a good chance to see the bullring with the snow being light this year. The view at Shinoda is worth seeing too!



After a visit to Izumiya and Matsunosuke we spent some time enjoying the koi at Kazuto.



The next place to lift some fish was Miyatora. As usual his fish were well marked, strong colours and good body shape. Here are the fish selected at Miyatora, first 45cm nisai, then 50cm.




A few pictures were taken while up in Mushigame - what a beautiful part of the world!




Finally we spent some time at Kaneko. Here Shane is getting stuck in to netting and selection.




Monday 15 February 2016

Monday.

It's been a long day!
This morning we made our way up to Hosokai. When we left Ojiya this morning it had started snowing and by the time we got up to Hosokai it was really getting quite heavy. However, it was good to renew acquaintance and see the fish again. We were able to check out the tosai and sort out a special order.



 We have several special requests to seek out so some time was spent bowling up and taking pictures of koi for this purpose. We then went to the main koi house to select some fish for the shop. Here are a selection of the Hosoaki koi. They are all nisai (2 years). The smaller ones are about 35cm and most are around 43-48cm.



 After spending the whole morning with Hosokai it was time for lunch. A good bowl of ramen soup keeps the tank well filled and we were ready for a journey out to Koda. He has a nicely run set up with some good fish. We had tried the Koda koi for the first time last year and so were ready to buy some nisai this year. Here are 2 bowls of nisai, mostly around 35cm.



Another new farm for me was next - Murata Koi Farm. He has very high quality kohaku and has been very successful in recent years at the koi shows. Again we were looking for special orders - this one is a cracking 2yr old kohaku and already about 60cm!

It's amazing how quickly the day passes when you're going from farm to farm, but we had time for one more - Tanaka Sutoshi. I was taken with his Asagi & Beni Kumonryu in particular. Here are some we bought at Tanaka.

To finish the day off (apart from doing all the paper work, facebook and this blog) we went out for dinner with Hosokai.



Sunday 14 February 2016

Sunday 14th Feb. 2016

It was an early start on Saturday morning, leaving Portrush at 2.30am, but the roads were clear and it was plain sailing, getting parked and transferred to the airport in Dublin. It was very busy with a big school ski trip just in front of me, many supporters going to see Ireland v France in rugby, and the school holidays all having an effect.

So, Dublin to Amsterdam went well, transfer in Amsterdam went smoothly and the flight to Tokyo also - just as planned.

We had a slight hiccup when we realised my customer was at a different terminal from the one we always land at with KLM, but we soon sorted that out. With our Japan Rail 5 day pass we took the Narita Express into Tokyo and then Shinkansen from Tokyo to Nagaoka.

From Nagaoka we called in with Matsunosuke farm and also Dainichi. So no, having had dinner it's definitely time for bed. Will be back on air tomorrow. Planning to be with Hosokai in the morning and a few others in the afternoon.

Wednesday 10 February 2016

Japan Trip 2016

Wed. 10th February.
Well, not long now until we're off on the 2016 buying trip to Niigata prefecture in Japan. From Sunday morning (in the UK) we should hopefully be posting here about the trip, with pics of fish appearing from Monday morning. Tag this page and keep an eye on it every day. The buying part only lasts 4 days!

Monday 18 January 2016

Preparing for Japan

The flights have been booked since mid-November. A space has been reserved for my car in the carpark at Dublin airport. Hotels are booked and seats reserved for the tour in Tokyo.
Having decided to miss out on the Japan trip in 2015, I am more excited than usual for this one to come round. We have a few special orders to pick up this year and that always makes it interesting.
The only thing causing a little anxiety is the way sterling is performing against the yen. Having slid from 187 to 167 yen to the £ in the last month means everything will be 12% more expensive! Let's hope there's a bit of an improvement in the next month!