Wednesday 25th March.
Today was our first day in Japan after making the journey from Ireland. I was very pleased to make the entire journey from Portrush to Ojiya in 25 hours this time. I don't think any of us were needing rocked to sleep last night!

This morning the weather was pleasant. No rain and temperature of about 6deg.C. There is no snow around which seems so unusual. The hotel here now serves a more continental style breakfast (thankfully) and after being rested and fed we were ready for the mountains.

First we went to Miyaishi where Miya san was very keen to show me the modifications to his front door. It has been a constant source of hilarity to him that I should bang my head on it year after year but now he has a much taller door so no more danger there.

I was excited to see the sanke which I left there last year. It has done really well and will be travelling to Ireland with this shipment. He has a good selection as usual and seems to have produced some lovely koi this year.

We also visited Torazu, Otsuka, Shinoda and Miyatora. Here are some of the fish purchased at Miyatora. As usual the quality of his fish are great.

Thursday 26th.
This morning the weather was beautiful so we decided to have a look in the outdoor tanks at Miyaishi first. I bought two bowls of koi here, pictured below. The first bowl has a couple of 35cm fish and the rest about 40cm. The second bowl are 40-45cm.

Last year I kept a Sanke in Japan. It has grown well and developed nicely over the 12 months. Here is a picture of it.

This year I have a different project. I'm going to see how this Showa does. It is female and I believe has good potential. Time will tell. Once again it is at Miyaishi Koi Farm.

After lunch with the friends at Miyaishi we went to see Izumiya, Sakai (Toshio), Seiki Ikarashi and Kaneko. Below I am pictured with Toshio Sakai. He gave us tea which was very welcome considering it had become so cold and was snowing since before lunch time.

Friday 28th.
Today we started out with Hosokai and spent the whole morning there. If you've ever been there, you'll understand why. He has such a great selection of good quality fish across many varieties.

Below are some photos of koi purchased today at Hosokai. In this bowl we have 5 koi approx 45cm.

This is a nice selection of nissai about 40cm.

These two kohaku are stunning. Two female sansai about 60-65cm.

And well, what can we say about these two handsome guys!!

After lunch at McDonalds :-) we went to Seiki Ikarashi. He is one of the top breeders in the business with many top show results over the years. This year he will be supplying my tateshita, high quality koi. This year all go-sanke. Here, I am with the eldest son.

Our final call was with Aoki. He has to be the champion of goshiki and metallics. Have a look at the fish I picked up at Aoki.

Saturday 28th.
This morning we went up to Hosokai again to tie up a few more fish. Among them were these two koi for a customer. Very nice Sanke and Kohaku.

We were keen to see Yamazaki to tie up some tosai. After Yamasan we had lunch at KFC. The afternoon passed quickly with a visit to the koi museum, the local produce museum and a couple of souvenir shops.

Sunday 29th
This morning it was snowing quite heavily again, threatening our plans to visit Niigata city, however it cleared up enough to make the trip down the highway. Niigata itself was enjoying beautiful weather.

In this pic you can see the huge football stadium which was built for the world cup and is now home to the Niigata soccer team.

After walking through parts of the town we came to the banks of the Sumida river - just before it enters the sea of Japan. In this picture you can see the tall building just behind me where the All Japan Show will be held this year.

Going up the coast we stopped for ice cream before taking a walk along one of the many beach parks. This area is packed solid during the summer months but it was only the brave and the foolish out enjoying the bracing winds today.

Travelling on, the coastline changes dramatically. These rocks are quite amazing. Lovely to be able to take a day to enjoy the scenery around the prefecture of Niigata.

Monday 30th
Tomorrow morning we check out of the hotel, visit Miya-san to say goodbye and then travel back to Nagaoka to get the Shinkansen down to Tokyo. All good things must come to an end.

We have a great wee trip planned for seeing around Tokyo on Tuesday. Will get the pics up as soon as possible, but it may be after we get home on Wednesday.