The Yamakoshi Year

2009 All Japan Koi Show

2009-01-30T23:56:00.002+09:00

Full details of all the winners of the 2009 All Japan Koi Show can be found on the new site at www.niigata-nishikigoi.com

New blog

2009-01-26T01:26:00.003+09:00

Mark Gardner's 'Yamakoshi Year' blog has now moved.

You can find it at on the all new Niigata Nishikigoi website.

Something for the weekend.....

2009-01-24T13:58:00.002+09:00

I've mentioned several times recently a new website that was in the making.

I can now reveal to blog visitors the new site at http://www.niigata-nishikigoi.com/

There are many areas which are still evolving and will continue to do so over the coming weeks and months.

The breeders guide includes basic details of over 105 different breeders located in Niigata Prefecture. There are more to be added and also there will be a lot more detail added as well.

Most of the breeders can be located with pin point accuracy on the interactive map.

With the site now live and active my blog will, from today move over to the new website, I hope you'll visit.

Sorry

2009-01-22T22:56:00.003+09:00

I must apologise to the hundreds of daily visitors to the blog for the lack of updates recently.

My days are currently largely spent sitting looking at the screen of my laptop.

However, this time next week, this will be the place to be, I promise!

Next Thursday all of the Koi will have been benched at the All Japan Koi Show, the event of the year!

Normally there are quite a lot of westerners in attendance, this year I'm not sure, it seems very quiet.

I know Danny Deschriver will be judging this year, partner in crime Gibbo is coming, Rob from Ornafish has a party that will be there, anyone else?

If you are going to the show please be sure to say hello.

Mapping out Nishikigoi

2009-01-19T19:48:00.005+09:00

Today was probably one of the greyest, most miserable days I've known here in Ojiya. Having had an early night, and early wake up call, I'd intended to go snowshoeing, not a chance in this weather, it would have been a pointless exercise.

As such it was on with work. With Aika due in Ojiya tomorrow for 3 days on Mondo I took the opportunity to catch up with some of my other stuff, primarily for the new website.

I've mentioned previously, and posted a work in progress, of Google Maps. Over the last week or so I've been adding more and more places to the database that drives the previously posted example. Given that Google Maps offers pin point accuracy, and all of my pins had been placed from memory I headed off with some zoomed in maps to make sure pins were placed as closely as possible to their real positions. It amazes me how many of the Koi breeders' premises are actually labelled with the farm name when you zoom in really close.

First stop was Takezawa, all fine there. Next stop Mushigame. I had 3 source maps for Mushigame which, putting them all together was confusing me. Firstly Google which has a lot of Mushigame's roads sadly missing. Then I had the Breeders Guide, not the most detailed of maps, and then the Nagaoka Breeders Member book, slightly more detailed but I knew there were bits of road missing. Last night I'd created a digital map adding in bits of road that I knew existed, the problem is that familiarity breeds contempt, and despite driving around the tiny bits of windy road all the time it's difficult to visualise it as a map. Having driven around Mushigame 3 times trying to tie the 3 maps into one, and drawn an additional road not added previously, I decided to call into Shintaro to solve my puzzle.

Did I mention familiarity breeds contempt? I showed Saito San the map I'd created, adding bits to the Google Map. He turned it 90 degrees, then another 90 degrees, I was getting the feeling I'd had with a taxi driver in Tokyo once when I'd come out of the wrong exit of Shinjuku station laden with bags and asked him to take me to a hotel the other side, showing him a map. (Shijuku is a big station by the way - and the busiest in the world with regards to passenger numbers!) I knew that there was one bit of road missing. I pointed out various reference points I knew on the map and Saito San said, 'No, nothing wrong'. I persisted. Hiromi San then took a look and said the word 'atarashi', amongst her observation. 'Atarashi' means 'new', there was a new piece of road not on the map, I presume post earthquake, my puzzle was solved.

Having returned to my apartment and made some adjustments to my map I decided to head further afield and check some points in Kawaguchi and Uonuma. Whilst doing so the weather got ever worse. Greys skies dumping rain, snow, hail, all coupled with strong winds, thunder and lightening - truly miserable.

Travelling down to Koide and Uonuma involves crossing the Uono River on a number of occasions. I've mentioned previously that the Uono River is the place Where it all began...., the origin of Nishikigoi. Looking at the river today swollen and flowing hard with the rain, and accompanied melting snow, from the flat lands and surrounding mountains, it's hard to believe that carp, albeit wild ones, could survive, let alone thrive in the river.

You can view the updated Google Map here http://www.nishikigoi.tv/map2.htm.

First of all I would ask you to click on 'Satellite' top right of the map, which naturally gives a satellite 'view' and an indication of the terrain.

From the map we can get an indication of how Koi, and then Nishikigoi, became spread throughout the region.

The large concentration of pins to the top is the Ojiya/Yamakoshi area. Note, clicking any pin (almost any) will give the address of it's location.

As we come down we move to Kawaguchi, we can see how there was a passage of Koi up from the flat lands into the mountains, as was the path from Ojiya, what is now route 291.

Continuing further down, following the Uono river, we reach Uonuma, the original origin.

Further south we reach Minimauonuma, (South Uonuma), home to breeders such as Sekiguchi.

If you zoom out a little further you'll see the routes that now lead straight to Tokyo, Route 17, the Expressway and the Shinkansen all following essentially the same path.

I have to admit before seeing this map I'd never really considered the movement of Koi in the first place, and then thereafter the Nishikigoi, and how the paths were laid for people to become Koi breeders.

An interesting video

2009-01-17T19:25:00.002+09:00

I just came across an interesting video on this site http://web-japan.org/jvt/en/index.html, it's linked to from Web Japan link in the links list on the left hand side.

If you scroll down you'll see a video for 'Worlds Biggests Firework'. The video shows the Katakai firework event that takes place in the town of Katakai, situated between Ojiya and Nagaoka.

For anyone that's visited Aoki or Suda, just off route 17, that's Katakai.

Not a lot to blog

2009-01-17T19:06:00.002+09:00

Unfortunately I don't have a great deal to blog at the moment.

My days, and nights, have been largely spent in from of computer screens for the last few days as I continue work on Mondo and my new website.

The snow continues to fall in both Ojiya and in Yamakoshi.

Today has been pretty dreary weather to be honest, heavy cloud, no sign of sun.

I popped up to Yamakoshi Ski Slope which opens at weekends during the season, I'm not sure but it wouldn't surprise me if this is the first day it's opened. Plenty of people of all ages were making the most of it that's for sure. Why do young children make it look so simple?

Hopefully the sun will shine tomorrow and it will be more conducive for some pretty pictures, depending on the weather I'll be heading off in my snow shoes.

A new member of the Tanaka Maruju family

2009-01-14T20:11:00.002+09:00

I popped into Maruju this afternoon and Shigeo Tanaka informed me that his middle son, Yasuyuki, had today become a father to a baby girl.

Unfortunately my Japanese study hasn't covered what to say to someone with a new grandchild!

Anyone who has visit Maruju will no doubt have met Yasu, Shigeyoshi's younger brother.

Anyway, my congratulations go to all the family.

Sainokami video - part 2

2009-01-14T14:48:00.002+09:00

You can now download part 2 of the Mushigame Sainokami video, the actual burning of the Sainokami.

To do so visit http://www.nishikigoi.tv/harvests.html and select the appropriate link.

Sainokami video - part 1

2009-01-14T12:15:00.001+09:00

You can now download a 4 minute video showing the building on the Sainokami on Sunday morning, a task which really took 2 hours.

To download visit http://www.nishikigoi.tv/harvests.html and select the link to the video.

Snow around Mushigame

2009-01-13T16:25:00.003+09:00

Last night saw considerable snow fall all over the area. Here in Ojiya we probaby had 6-8 inches. In Yamakoshi there was considerably more.

A few quick pics taken around Mushigame this afternoon....

The view from Marusada

Looking back to Mushigame from near Yamakoshi Junior High School

The view from Maruju Koi Farm

Looking across the valley to the school

Pizza Toast

2009-01-12T20:07:00.003+09:00

Today I have to share with you some Japanese food that I recently rediscovered and is quite delicious, pizza toast!!!

My first introduction to pizza toast came back in 2003 in Okayama. Daisuke Maeda's (Momotaro Koi Farm) uncle runs (I assume he still does anyway) a coffee shop at the bottom of the hill leading from the Maeda family home. It was always filled with the wonderful aroma of freshly roast and ground coffee. In the mornings we would go there for breakfast of which there were 2 'sets'. 1 set was coffee with sandwiches, the other coffee with pizza. The pizza was actually pizza toast. It always seemed a strange thing for breakfast but it was better than the sandwich set!

Just before Christmas the owner of one of the bars I visit opened a daytime 'cafe' in the building adjacent to New Business Plaza hotel. I'd popped in briefly the day it opened and the owner proudly told me they had 'pizza toast' on the menu. A few days later, having not had breakfast and with the clock edging towards lunch time, I decided I'd go and try the pizza toast. It was most tasty I have to say.

One of the western products that is very popular here in Japan is Tabasco Sauce, something that I absolutely love, especially on pizza. Did I ever mention I like pizza?

Whilst in the supermarket the other I went to the Tabasco aisle for a new bottle. Sitting there next to it, 'Tabasco Pizza Toast Sauce'. I just had to buy a box!!

For those that are perhaps not so open minded you may be thinking that this looks just like cheese on toast with 'extras'. I grant you that the similarity could be misleading.

There is one vital component of 'pizza toast' that is maybe not so readily available elsewhere, that is the bread!

In the UK you can buy thick sliced bread, you can't however buy thick sliced bread as thick as in Japan. The bread I have here is a full 3cm thick!

Making pizza toast is of course extremely simple, toast one side, once done spread the Tabasco Pizza Sauce on the uncooked side (the box contains 5 sachets, 1 sachet does 2 slices perfectly). Top that off with 'pizza toast' cheese, yes they sell special cheese, and the toppings of your choice. Add a couple of drops of Tabasco for extra kick and pop under the grill until the cheese is bubbly and lightly browned.

Totemo oishii!!!

Anyone visiting should pop a couple of packs of sauce and bread in the case before going home!

On my way home

2009-01-12T01:24:00.003+09:00

Having snaked my way down from Mushigame to Route 291 on the snow covered road I headed home.

As I passed under the Shinkansen bridge I noticed an unmistakable plume of smoke, the folks in Uragara were holding a Sainokami as well on the land behind Maruyo Koi Farm.

As in Mushigame they had 2, the smaller one had already been lit which was creating the smoke. Just after I arrived they lit the larger one.

Lots of smoke to start with as people waited to get cooking.

Mrs Kawakami (Torazo) and her daughter cooking mochi on the remains of the smaller Sainokami. You will note that the people of Uragara have worked a rather more sophisticated, if less traditional, method of cooking than those in Mushigame.

In the first picture you may have noticed the long streamers flying. The appeared to represent squid, but that could have been my imagination working overtime! Once the fire got going the streamers were held at the Saonokami until the thin nylon line holding them to the pole melted and the streamer was released off in the wind.

Given that Uragara is a pretty small village I was surprised at the number of people in attendance. What was noticeable was that a number of people had driven there. I suspect many children over time have moved off into Ojiya and came back for the festival.

Mushigame Sainokami Part 3 - The Main Event

2009-01-11T22:12:00.005+09:00

At 1pm we headed from the Shintaro house, just 50 yards down the road to the right in the picture below, back to the community centre.

On arrival we were given bingo cards and some mikan (satsuma oranges).

The bingo cards featured 25 numbers in a 5 x 5 grid with the letters B I N G O at the top. As I stored my camera gear the bingo caller started, I have to confess I didn't understand a word.

On returning to where Saito San and Hiromi San were standing they asked how I was getting on I said I didn't understand his numbers. It then dawned on me that what the caller was saying was, for example, 'B no go ju go', 'go ju go' being 55, 'B no' meaning that you needed the number 55 in column B. We quickly ran through the missed numbers and I popped a few out. Thereafter pretty much all I seemed to know was that my numbers weren't coming in!! Ironically, whilst watching TV over lunch, I'd remarked that I could do with a lottery win as an advert for the Japanese Lotto came on.

Hiromi next to me had popped out half of her card when I had no more than half a dozen popper out. Any hopes of winning had seemingly vanished. At that point the next number came in an I made a diagonal line from corner to corner.

'Do I win?', I jokingly asked.

'Yes, yes, bingo, bingo!', Saito San shouted, thrusting me towards the prize table.

Once there I was presented with an array of prizes, drink, pot noodles, woolly hats (Saito San looked vary fetching in a pink bobble hat a little later) and a variety of other things. Within seconds the lady behind the table asked, 'beer?' She handed me a carrier bag with 2 cans, perfect! I placed them on a mound of snow, Hiromi San seemed very concerned they'd disappear, not because of a petty thief, but because the snow would bury them.

Whilst the bingo continued others lit candles and said prayers in the shrine set below the Sainokami. The 'snowmen' in there represent the same figures as the stone sainokami statues.

Once lit the Sainokami sets off a whole load of smoke.....

before eventually getting properly ignited.

Perhaps the main part of the festival is cooking food on the Sainokami.

Many familar face were present. The omnipresent Nagashima San. I learned today that Nagashima San is not only a Yamakoshi resident, he originally came from Mushigame. Nagashima San, now a member of the Japanese parliament, didn't just turn up for the main event, Nagashima San was there to build the Sainokami as well.

Ikarashi Kazuto in the 'white' jacket.

Daisuke Ishihara (Yagenji) wearing the green jacket in the foreground.

Shigeo Tanaka of Maruju Koi Farm.

An checking his mochi.

You can read more about mochi here - Mochitsuki video

Here it is being 'grilled'

In addition to cooking mochi the other main things was squid.

I'm still somewhat unsure exactly what they were doing with the squid, i.e cooking it, drying it, or drying it more! Most peoples squid seemed pretty dry before they started!

I'm unsure of the outcome of the grilled mikan below!

There is only one reason for the look on Kensuke's face, the squid is tough and he can't pull it apart!

Kensuke attacking me with the said squid!

I did succumb to trying the squid. If I hadn't spat it out then quite frankly I'd still be chewing it now!

I very much love Mushigame, the UK is my home, I live in Ojiya, but Mushigame is very much my spiritual home I'm sure.

Having been in Mushigame for the end of harvest celebration - Mushigame Matsuri and Bon Odori - it's interesting to be here for the start of this year's requests for success.

Part 2 - Some info about Sainokami

2009-01-11T20:33:00.003+09:00

As I mentioned yesterday, a Google search for Sainokami doesn't reveal much information. This post is put together based on information I could find, information from Saito San and information I learned about individual aspects of the Sainokami festival whilst putting together part 1 of this series of posts - Yamakoshi Sainokami - Part 1 - Building the Fire

Sainokami, according the the dictionary on my iPod (undoubtedly the best piece of software I've never had to pay for), is the 'traveller's guardian deity', 'kami' meaning god.

Saito San advised the reason for the festival is to seek success in the coming year, whether it be a harvest, study, career or life in general, etc. It is essentially the same as the larger Video of Koshi no Hi-Matsuri that takes place in March.

From this I interpret that this is considered the 'journey' and the significance of the 'traveller's guardian'.

If you followed the link to Wikipedia in part 1 you'll have read that the 3 bamboo pieces in Kadomatsu welcome ancestral spirits or gods of the harvest and provide them temporary housing. I'm guessing the burning of the 'home' sets the spirits/god free.

Likewise I guess the burning of the Shimenawa that invited the New Year God in completes that process of 'purification'.

The actual festival and burning of the Sainokami will follow in part 3.

Yamakoshi Sainokami - Part 1 - Building the Fire

2009-01-11T18:47:00.006+09:00

Having watched football until 2am I really didn't relish my 6.45 alarm call this morning. The reason for the alarm call so early was that I wanted to be in Mushigame for 8am and the building of the Sainokami, the centrepiece of today's Sainokami festival.

The festival was to take place in the car park of the Mushigame community hall, a building that I learned today is also home to Mushigame Post Office, for all my time spent there I'd previously had no idea there was a PO in Mushigame.

As mentioned yesterday it had snowed quite a lot and it didn't let up overnight. The roads in Yamakoshi which had been cleared overnight were already covered by a couple of inches of snow.

In Mushigame the first task was to create a base of snow for the Sainokami.

Then some large bamboo poles arrived to form the centre 'mast' of the fire. I don't know about the rest of the world but in the UK bamboo poles like this don't come cheap!

Then bundles of dried grass stems which make the body of the Sainokami.

The 'bundled' bamboo you can see above are the 'bodies' of Kodamatsu, a traditional new year decoration in Japan. You can read about them here on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadomatsu

In the picture below you can also see some decorations made from twisted rice straw. These are called Shimenawa, they are hung on Torri Gates, entrances to shrines, businesses and houses at New Year to signify the house is purified to accept the New Year God.

All these items would become part of the Sainokami. During the course of the morning many villagers arrived to drop off their 'used' decorations to be burned. The 2 large pieces were, I believe from Maruju Koi Farm, I'm sure they are the ones I saw their before Christmas. Their design includes models of Nishikigoi.

The Sainokami taking shape, although still far smaller than the finished article. As you maybe able to tell from the pictures the sun made an appearance, albeit briefly!

In the old school building these people were busy bundling more grass for the fire and also busy weaving the 'skirt' which would 'dress' the Sainokami.

The sun was short lived and by 9am, 1 hour into the build, the snow started falling.

As you can see there were actually 2 Sainokami, the smaller one in the background for the children to light.

The snow got heavier and heavier. The back of my truck has a good 8 inches or so in it now.

Nearing completion, the snow still falling.

Adding the woven 'skirt'.

Digging a hole at the base which would be later used as a 'shrine', I hope my use of the word is correct.

The completed Sainokami, 3 hours solid work of probably over 20 people which in a couple of hours would go up in smoke.

More to follow.......

How much junk in one year!?!

2009-01-10T21:03:00.002+09:00

It's exactly a year ago today that I moved into my apartment, when I did I had only the luggage that I'd carried with me from the UK. If you've followed the blog from the beginning you may recall that things didn't exactly go too smoothly that first night - Homeless at 2am.

As I look around me now I can't believe how much stuff (junk!!) I've accumulated in one year.

I've mentioned previously about the refuge collection and how on a daily basis you put different types of rubbish out. For some things such as cardboard boxes and newspapers and magazines, there is a monthly collection. Unfortunately I've never managed to get organised enough to fold up my cardboard into neat bundles, as required, and put it out on the requisit day. I have told you about the Distractions.... I face in day to day life!! So, as a result I have several boxes around for things that I've bought over the year such as a printer, TV, the bedding I bought the day I moved in! I also figured they'd be useful for when I had to send stuff home at the end of the year which of course I've never actually had to do! I won't even mention the 3 large suitcases that I've accumulated on my return trips from the UK!!

One thing I recall vividly on that first day in the apartment was that whilst I could work the under floor heating I couldn't get the air con to blow hot. As a result it was rather chilly to say the least. This year I'm glad I know how it works!!

On Thursday I posted that the weather was great and there hadn't been much snow A beautiful day..... Last year on January 5th I made the bold statement - The snow loosens it's grip.... On the 10th January 2008 it returned with a vengeance. Today, 10th January 2009, the snow has returned again and it is bitterly cold outside. As I post this the weather widget to the left says it feels like -10c. With a strong wind blowing too I've no doubt it's accurate.

And, when it freezing, what better thing to do than build a big bonfire, which is exactly what's happening in Mushigame - and I suspect other places around Niigata tomorrow.

Around this time of year in Niigata people hold fire festivals called 'sainokami'. My attempts to research 'sainokami' on the web have largely delivered little information, hopefully I'll be able to tell and show more tomorrow. One link that did come up was this http://www.nbz.or.jp/eng/abstracts.htm on the Niigata Prefeture Museum of History, somewhere else on my list of places to visit in 2009 as it's only located in Nagaoka!

Anyway, a picture taken by Saito San at last years event.

Rice

2009-01-09T21:57:00.004+09:00

Over the course of the year I've mentioned Niigata rice, and specifically Koshi Hikari rice, regarded as the finest.

I also mentioned back in August or September that I'd purchased some Koshi Hikari rice, and an electric steamer to cook it. My attempts to get the rice cooker to work had been to no avail, as much as I tried to follow the instructions I could get it to get hot.

Having tried to cook rice again last night, without success, I decided to take the instructions to Hiromi San today so she could tell me where I was going wrong. Before she had chance Saito San took control of the instruction manual. I should have had more faith, after all he did explain the washing machine to me - The laundry....

Like most men I don't do instruction manuals, preferring to unpack things and go in head first. However, I really had tried to understand the Japanese instruction manual for my rice cooker. As instruction manuals always start with the simple 'quick start' instructions first that's where I'd started, religiously setting the cooking time for my rice before pressing the 'start' button. At least that's how I'd read the instructions!!

Understanding the instruction manual required the 'viewer' (I was only looking at the pictures) to consider the significance of rice in the Japanese diet.

'Very easy', Saito San said to me having glanced at the instruction manual.

'You wash the rice'

'I know', I said, they don't have packet ready rice here - bizarrely!

'One cup of rice, one cup of water'

Yeah, yeah, I understand that, now what..........

'Press the big button', Saito San informed me, 'wait 20 minutes'.

'What about the other buttons?', I asked.

'That's if you want to cook rice in the morning.'

In transpired that the instructions I'd been following weren't to cook the rice for 12 minutes, they had been for cooking the rice in 12 hours time!!! It's no wonder my water never got hot whilst I was waiting!!

Rice

2009-01-09T21:57:00.001+09:00

A beautiful day....

2009-01-08T20:35:00.003+09:00

A year ago the snow was a whole lot deeper than it is today - How deep!!!

Since arriving there hasn't really been any meaningful snow fall. Here in Ojiya almost all remains of what fell over new year have disappeared. In the mountains it is disappearing rapidly.

Some pictures taken in Mushigame today.....

As you can see the snow isn't particularly deep, at full depth it's just a series of rolling mounds.

Last February I stumbled upon the view below and proclaimed the house from which it was taken as the one with the best view in Yamakoshi, I have to say i've still not found a better one!! The owner of the house, Ikarashi San, became quite well known to me throughout last year.

These pictures were taken this afternoon, what a view to wake up to!

You can see last years pictures here - The house with the best view in Yamakoshi - revisi... You'll probably understand what I mean about rolling mounds of snow.

Catching up with the tosai

2009-01-08T00:10:00.002+09:00

Over the last few days i've been able to catch up with many of the tosai we've seen on the blog before.

Yesterday I popped in Maruju where Shigeyoshi, and his youngest brother who has now returned to work at the farm, (with 3 sons now working I'll need to brush up my CV for a job), sorting through the Tancho fry. At this stage it was simply a case of sizing them and removing any that had gone bad. There were also a handful of tosai Showa amongst them.

Tuesday I needed to catch up with Hideo at Isa. As I passed the tosai greenhouses I saw the trucks parked outside. Inside Mitsunori was busy sorting through Showa tosai, those that had previously been deemed tategoi - Some tosai numbers. In an hour or two, 2 ponds were sorted, reducing their numbers by around a half. It continues to be a fascinating learning experience. As ever, there are obvious rejects and obvious keepers. The middle line is the interesting area. There were a number of rejected Showa that took me by suprise - by that I mean they are now in the sale ponds! Likewise there were a number of keepers that took me by surprise, compared to others that had been rejected.

My first port of call this week was to see the Tosai at Shintaro, particularly the Showa. Over a cup of coffee I asked Saito San if they'd grown. Only a little bit he said. On entering the greenhouse I was gobsmacked to say the least. I was amazed how much they'd grown in a fortnight since I'd last seen them. Of course just before that they had been sorted through reducing the numbers in each pond. The Showa which I've been so involved with since their spawning earlier in the year are doing very well, at least to my novice eyes.

It will be interesting to follow all of them further until May when they go out to the mudponds. The tosai game gets ever more fascnating!

My New Years Resolution

2009-01-05T19:03:00.005+09:00

I don't really go a whole bundle on New Years Resolutions to be honest, sure like most people that are probably reading this I intend to get more exercise, eat more healthily, not drink so much and ultimately lose some weight! {press 'save' whilst getting new can of beer from fridge and putting pizza in the oven}

However, there is one thing I am seriously committed to doing this year and that is cracking the Japanese language. Over the course of 2008 I have met many many people and, on too many occassions, cursed myself about my Nihongo ineptitude. To not speak Japanese really does mean I'm not taking full advantage of the opportunities presented before me.

Funnily enough, one of the things that I always said was way down my list of 'wants', being able to read Japanese, is actually something, in part, I am able to do and, surprisingly, an incredibly useful skill. Now, when I say that, please don't start sending me articles from Japanese Rinko magazine and asking me what they say!

Written Japanese consists of 3 'alphabets', Kanji, Katakana and Hiragana.

Kanji are pictograms used to represent words. These are so far along my learning curve they really aren't on my radar, the handful I recognise really don't mean a lot. You can read more about them here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji

Katakana consists of 42 basic characters which make up about 100 or so vowel sounds. These are mainly used for loan words, things such as 'computer', 'television', and also western names.

Hiragana essentially consists of the same characters as Katakana as far as their sounds are concerned, the symbols however are different. Technically everything in Japanese could be written in Hiragana. Sadly they don't!!

Learning the Hiragana characters, and their associated syllable sounds, actually proved a very valuable experience. No longer were all the signs a load of mumbo jumbo, some started to make sense. For example, my good friend Alan Archer (who incidentally didn't make one trip to Japan in 2008 despite making 3 trips in 2007) is partial to a bit of 'Yakitori' -if you don't know what that its google it ;-) !! Anyway, at the beginning of 2008 if he'd asked me to take him to a 'Yakitori' I'd have had no idea where to go. Now lots of seemingly anonymous shop fronts offer 'Yakitori', their signs written in Hiragana.

Back in November I mentioned that my iPod now had a translation device on it - http://yamakoshi.blogspot.com/2008/11/ipods.html. Knowing the syllable sounds of anything written in Hiragana enables the words to be input in Romaji and converted to Japanese.

For anyone visiting Japan, a little time spent on learning Hiragana and the correct pronounciation of the associated syllables would not be wasted. If you do you'll realise how many Nishikigoi 'terms' are mispronounced!! One thing that should be noted is that some phrase books do not show words using orthodox syllables, rather using phonetics to replicate the Japanese pronounciation. Look for a phrase book that uses the 'Hepburn' system.

When I arrived back in December 2007 I was armed with a new Japanese phrase, 'akemashite omedetou gozaimasu', in English 'Happy New Year'. The same phrase, despite not being used for a year, is still firmly fixed in my head. When I arrived at Shintaro today I offered Saito san my best 'akemashite omedetou gozaimasu' to be given a 'yeah whatever' kind of look. Hiromo San put her head around the door and in perfect English said, 'Happy New Year'. I've experienced the same on many occasions, it would seem 'Happy New Year' is a standard phrase here in Japan.

Subsequently I have a new phrase in my arsenal (I did say I was commited to learning Japanese), courtesy of Aika, 'kotoshi mo yoroshiku'.

'Yorishiku' is one of many Japanese words that really has no direct English equivalent, it is also a word that you'll hear often. When I first heard it it was explained, in conjunction with 'douzo' as 'please be nice to me', in the context of meeting someone for the first time. Since I've heard it many times in general business conversation, generally by anyone asking something of another party.

Anyway, 'kotoshi mo' is more easily translated as 'this year also'. Put together it was explained as 'I appreciate that we could establish good relationship in last year, and I hope we can keep it for this year as well'. As I say, a valuable addition to my vocabulary at this time of year.

Getting a nice picture in Mushigame is a whole lot easier!

Jetlag

2009-01-05T18:38:00.002+09:00

It was on my second trip to Japan, together with Andrew Glazzard, that we established the best way to beat jet lag was to stay up late drinking the day of arrival, at least until midnight, and then get up at a normal time the next day.

That advice has stood me in good stead on a number of visits to Japan and indeed benefited others. Some who have chosen to ignore it have been cursed by waking up at 4am and not getting back to sleep thereafter.

Sadly my advice doesn't seem as effective for me as it used to be, the last couple of times I've returned I've really struggled to get 'on time', this occasion no exception.

Things started reasonably well. On Saturday I went out until midnight, the target time, returned home and watched a little FA Cup football until 1.30am before retiring, the alarm was set for 9am. When it went off I decided that I'd give myself another hour. This is the big problem! Had I had a group of fellow Koi hobbyists all chomping at the bit to go and see Koi I'd have been up. Sleep was a more attractive proposition.

At 10am I submitted to the alarm and got up, got ready and headed for the breakfast spot, to which I would have to walk 1.5km through the snow - I really didn't fancy it! As I put my gear on to start the walk it started to snow. The prospect was becoming less and less attractive!

I started my climb. The snow was around 70cm deep however it had absolutely no packing to it, every step saw me sinking to a good 30cms or so. Despite having 'baskets' on them my walking poles easily sunk to the road surface beneath. It was far harder than any time I'd climbed it last year. With the snow falling harder, and visibility decreasing, I caved in half way and returned to my truck. I have to say it was without doubt one of the most strenuous and sapping things I've ever done to achieve nothing.

My original plan had been to go right over the top and down into Mushigame, hopefully meet Saito San, and get him to drive back to my truck. No need for that! I decided to go home, grab a couple of hours sleep which I felt in serious need of, and then pop to see the Saito family in the afternoon. It was just before midday I put my head on the pillow, it was 8pm when I next awoke! Whilst I was suitably refreshed it wasn't exactly conducive to sorting my sleep pattern!

Luckily I managed a good nights sleep last night, despite only getting up at 8pm! Maybe I'm on top of it now, I hope so!

Peanuts

2009-01-05T16:55:00.002+09:00

Ever since I was a young boy I've always loved eating peanuts. My grandad always had a jar of salted peanuts next to his armchair and on many occasion, when visiting on Saturdays, the jar would rapidly go from full to empty as I sneaked handful after handful.

Over the course of the year I've often mentioned the home grown produce that I've eaten, things such as the edamame, piman and sweetcorn grown by Shosuke Saito. Today I experienced another 'first' for home grown produce, peanuts grown by Hiromi San's father.

The shells, and the nuts they contained, were somewhat smaller than the standard 'monkey nut', however, the nuts themselves, roasted to a soft crunch, as opposed to the hard crunch of normal peanuts, were absolutely delicious or, as the Japanese would say, totemo oishii!!

Maybe I'll scrap the idea of breeding Koi and just grow high class fruit and vegetables instead!

Back in Ojiya

2009-01-04T00:42:00.003+09:00

A quick note about this blog. As detailed previously it will soon be surpassed by a new blog for 2009 and beyond. Whilst that is in the final stages of completion I'll continue to make a few posts here.

Just before 10am on 3rd Jan my plane touched down at Narita Airport. When I checked in online the previous afternoon it appeared the plane would be quite empty, as they have been on most of my recent flights.

For the first time I made use of public transport to make the journey from my home in the UK to Heathrow Airport. This is a journey of around 60km (as the crow flies) from the east side of London directly through the centre to the west side. Somewhat surprisingly all the trains ran on time and the journey was without incident.

On arrival at Heathrow it was as busy as I recall seeing it. My hopes about the plane were misplaced, it was packed to the rafters. I'd exhausted the entertainment system 10 days earlier and, as such, had a rather frustrating sleepless flight. I've long maintained that the single worst part of coming to Japan is 12 hours in a plane!

As we approached Narita there was an announcement that Mount Fuji was visible. In the absence of a window seat, and with the seat belt sign on, I couldn't see it, I could however see a cloudless blue sky.

Immigration queues are a frustration when landing anyway, sometimes in Japan the line can take 45mins or so to get through. One of the beauties of having a re-entry permit is missing the usual queue for foreign passport holders. With the plane on the ground slightly ahead of schedule I made my way to immigration. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. No queues for foreign passport holders, half a dozen in line for re-entry permit holders. Oh well, down the steps to baggage reclaim.

There is always something a little nerve wracking about waiting for bags. Mine seemed to take an age to come out. The most frustrating part of this was that I was pretty keen to catch a specific Narita Express which offered best connection times for my journey to Ojiya. Getting to Nagaoka (or Urasa) is no problem at any time. Getting a convenient local connection to Ojiya is not so simple.

As I stood in line I knew things were getting tight. As the person in front of me was served the board showed the next Narita Express as being the 10.43, the one I wanted. With the clock showing 10.40 as I was called forward to be served the next train changed to being the 11.15. I'd missed my desired Narita Express and the onward connections.

As the Narita Express headed in to Tokyo the sky was a beautiful cloudless blue.

As we headed out of Tokyo on the Shinkansen I was hopeful of a nice view of Mount Fuji, I wasn't to be disappointed. I'm sure the passengers in the air ship were also suitably chuffed with their view!

Having covered the flat ground between Tokyo and Takasaki the Shinkansen started cutting it's way through the mountains.

70Km further on we reached ski country, Echigo Yuzawa, and it was suitably snowy.

Another 30km and we reached Urasa, the snow was falling and people out skiing and snowboarding.

The timetable stated I'd have a 54 minute wait for a connection from Urasa to Ojiya. It turned into being over 90 minutes. It was reminisent of UK trains!

Eventually I made it back to Ojiya, and my apartment, around 4.30pm, 23 hours after leaving home in the UK.

Ojiya is cold, snowy and icy. I've not been to Yamakoshi just yet, I shall be venturing to the Breakfast Spot in the morning.

The Yamakoshi Year Review - December 2007/January 2008

2008-12-30T21:51:00.004+09:00

As I type this, the first part of my review of 'The Yamakoshi Year', it's hard to believe that exactly 12 months ago I had finished the first full day of my year in Yamakoshi.

That day, 30th December, was my first proper experience of Yamakoshi snow, something which would very much be a feature of my first couple of months life in Ojiya and Yamakoshi. It would snow pretty much every day thereafter until March. It was also something that spoiled my first proper plan of my trip, New Years Eve in Yamakoshi, somewhere totally inaccessible in my 2WD hire car.

Mushigame New Years Day 2008

This snow is something that also confirmed my admiration for the people that have made the mountains of Yamakoshi their homes and who also brought us Nishikigoi as we know them today. Their lives are now aided by modern machinery that clear the roads on a daily basis. It's not long ago that the villages of the area would have been totally isolated over winter, without proper roads or the many tunnels that now exist, cutting their way through the mountains.

As I look back at the blog for January I realise how almost totally devoid of anything Nishikigoi related it was. Strangely nowadays, should a day or 2 pass without being involved with Nishikigoi I get serious withdrawal symptoms.

January was very much a 'getting sorted' month and it's fair to say, without the assistance of people such as Isa san and Saito san, along with Yoshi and Hiroshi back in Tokyo, it would have been truly impossible to get a base established in Ojiya. One of the simplest of things I'd expected to be able to sort was to get a mobile phone. Oh how wrong I was to be proved. Without having a long term visa or being a resident it's impossible. Thankfully in that respect Saito san saved the day.

During the course of January I moved into my apartment, with the assistance of Isa san, and also got my truck, again with Isa san's assistance.

January would be rounded off with a trip to Tokyo for one of the greatest Nishikigoi spectacles of all, the AJNPA All Japan Show.

A Yamakoshi Snow Scene

2008-12-29T21:23:00.001+09:00

Courtesy of Saito san, taken at lunchtime today...

White Christmas

2008-12-26T18:28:00.003+09:00

Unsurprisingly it wasn't a 'White Christmas' in the UK.

As predicted by the weather forecast for some time, it was a White Christmas in Yamakoshi, the picture below was taken on 23rd December by Shintaro.

Whilst it wasn't snowing on Christmas Day, heavy snow was due today, the 26th.

That's all folks

2008-12-21T20:36:00.002+09:00

Well, it's coming up to 9pm, and my adventures in Ojiya and Yamakoshi are all but over for this year, and what an adventure it was.

My day has been mainly a 'sorting' day, working out what I do and don't need to take home with me. I'm grateful that I don't have to pack up and transfer all the contents of my apartment. Quite how I've accumulated so much stuff in 1 year I'm not sure!

A taxi is due to pick me up at 7.45am to take me to that station before heading to Tokyo on the Shinkansen.

Between now and then the rest of the Man U being played over in Yokohama, and 3 games of English Premier League football culminating in Arsenal (the team I support) v Liverpool. A win will be a satisfying high to the end of the trip!

As I sign off for now I have to extend an enormous thanks to all those that have taken an interest in my blog since it first started 358 days ago (if my maths are right) on 29th December 2007. When I started it it was really only as my own diary, and to share my 'year' with family and friends. What then became global interest amazed me. I have met many many other people over the course of the year as a result of it. Last night I spent the evening drinking with a new arrival here in Ojiya. Steve Hampton arrived from the UK a week or 2 ago working as an English teacher in several schools. His search for information about Ojiya led him to discover my blog and specifically my Ojiya Map. It seems like yesterday when Wesley Stewart, someone else I met for the first time this year, produced a copy of the same map - Yakiniku - much to my surprise! It was the perhaps the first time that I realised the blog contained some useful information!

In the early days it was suggested that a permanent link be placed on the top of KoiChat.com, the discussion forum I've 'run' since 2001. In placing that link I made the statement that the blog was 'updated daily'. At times I've regreted making that statement but at the same time I'm grateful I did. Sometimes the day would be drawing to a close and I'd have nothing to 'blog'. On those occasions I would be driven to find something to post. Amazingly the feedback to some of those almost 'desperate' posts has been the most extensive. Most of the time those posts would be 'lifestyle' snippets, as opposed to being directly Nishikigoi related. This is something which will be very much formative in my plans for 2009, continuing to share the culture and lifestyle of people in the area.

This post will be the 21st made in December, so even through this quiet time I've just about managed to keep an average of 1 per month. This will actually be the 558th post on the blog. Early on I requested that my mum print every post, just in case blogger.com disappeared for whatever reason, as it would be my only record of what has happened. There are several arch lever files containing a number of pages of paper I dread to think about, sorry environmentalists, and an untold number of ink cartridges of ink. I think I look forward to reading what I've written over the last year!

There are maybe just 2 or 3 more posts that will be made on the blog and then it will become an archive of the year and then things will move onwards, and I hope, upwards.

Between Christmas and New Year I'll be posting my summary of the year, the highs, the lows, the fun times, the not so fun times, at the moment it's a worrying thought, I'm not sure where to start!! Anyway, please keep checking back between Christmas and New Year.

So, that's all folks, wishing you a very happy Christmas.

My penultimate day before leaving Ojiya

2008-12-20T16:14:00.004+09:00

Well my 'Yamakoshi Year' is really now drawing to a close. Early Monday morning I shall be heading off to Tokyo for meetings re Mondo before flying to Heathrow at midday Tuesday. Around 6pm GMT on 23rd I should be back home.

As I've sat working on Mondo the sky outside was clear and blue, as such I just had to go for a drive to Yamakoshi, primarily to visit the 'breakfast spot' and get an updated breakfast spot panorama. Click on the image below to open the full 4000 pixel wide version.

To track back through previous versions of this image taken through the course of the year click here - Maybe the final Breakfast Spot panorama - and follow the links.

As I stood there looking at the view, capped off beautifully by snow covered mountains in the distance, a view I looked at 100's of times over the last year, and without fail brought all visitors to, I couldn't help wonder what it would feel like if this was, as originally planned, my penultimate day of living with this on my doorstep.

A little bit of 'home' just on the doorstep

2008-12-19T01:18:00.002+09:00

As mentioned yesterday I had to visit Niigata airport today in order to get my re-entry permit.

A local train to Nagaoka and then Shinkansen to Niigata was 3050yen. Having reached Niigata station there was a 25minute, 370yen bus ride to Niigata airport.

I located the immigration office, duly completed my papers, and then had to pay my fee. It seems just yesterday that I was in -Immigration - in Tokyo extending my first 3 month tourist visa to 6 months. The same as I had to then, this time I had to pay my fee in revenue stamps.

I purchased my 300oyen revenue stamp for my 'single' re-entry permit. Having stuck it on my form I took a seat whilst my papers were processed. As I sat there I learned, from a conversation between another 'customer' and immigration official, a 6000yen stamp would have got me a multiple re-entry permit. Such a permit would have covered any number of return trips to the UK, or in fact any times I'd left Japan (perhaps with exceptions).

Oh well, too late, my mistake, within 30 minutes everything was sorted and I had my stamp to get back in after Christmas. Including transport to and from Niigata airport it had cost me 10,000yen. I can't help wonder why a mutli re-entry visa isn't just built into the visa in the first place!!! I don't imagine many people with a 3 year working visa have no reason to leave the country during that time.

I've mentioned before that I have little reason to visit Nagaoka other then passing through. On my arrival there I had 75mins until the local train would take me to Ojiya. As such I took wander around the shops adjacent to the station.

I was amazed to discover a shop selling 'imported foods'. Many familiar brands, amongst them Cadbury's chocolate and Tiptree jams. Ok, you've probably all heard of Cadbury but many wondering what the hell are Tiptree jams. Tiptree is a village in Essex, the country I come from in the UK, just 40 miles from my home town. You can read more about Tiptree jams here - http://www.tiptree.com/.

Many times it amazes me how small the world really is.

Earthquakes

2008-12-17T21:58:00.002+09:00

Not a huge lot to have reported over the last couple days, everything focused on doing things I need to in preparation for my return to the UK. Whilst I have a visa to be in Japan if I leave I have to get a re-entry permit. Tomorrow I have to go all the way to Niigata Airport, submit a form, pay a 'tax', and hopefully get something that lets me back into the country. I recall on my first trips here to Japan you always had to pay a departure tax, for tourists it's no longer the case. Seems I still do, however at least I can jump the immigration queue on my return!

You're probably wondering what this has to do with earthquakes.....

Over the last few days, whilst sorting things out, I've had the National Geographic Channel on in the background on regular occasions. At present they are running a 'Best 30' series featuring some of the best programmes on the channel. Tonight they had one featuring the Tokyo elite emergency services.

Earthquakes, as everyone knows, are a feature of Japanese life. Tokyo is statistically overdue a big earthquake. In 1923 over 100,000 in an earthquake in Tokyo. In 2005 over 6000 people died in an earthquake in Kobe. As a resident you are advised of the various precautions to take during earthquakes. To be honest, I'm of the opinion the day to day risk of an earthquake getting me is less than all the other risks threatening life in 'the west'.

The programme detailed some truly amazing high tech devices available to the services in Tokyo. Some of these were used to locate the boy trapped in the landslide which claimed his mother and sister in the 2004 Chuetsu earthquake in Yamakoshi - http://yamakoshi.blogspot.com/2008/03/on-brighter-note.html

One of the other things that was of interest is that in Tokyo there is a training simulator where you can go an experience an earthquake measuring 7, similar to the strongest that hit Niigata in 2004. You can read more about it here http://www.sunnypages.jp/travel_guide/tokyo_leisure/one_day_experience/Ikebukuro+Earthquake+Museum/1848 and here http://www.tfd.metro.tokyo.jp/hp-ikbskan/index.html. It's somewhere that's on my 'to visit' list for sure.

When I started typing this another National Geographic 'Best 30' came on, this one was about Sumo, both Japan and the USA. One of the people featured was Asashoryu Akinori, one of the most successful yokozuna ever - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asash%C5%8Dry%C5%AB_Akinori

It some months ago now that I posted - The things you find in mudponds..... Tonight I learned that Asashoryu Akinori drinks fresh blood from the 'turtles' before every fight to give him strength. From the pictures on screen he prefers fresh turtle blood on the rocks!

Tomorrow I'll let you know how my visit to Niigata Airport immigration went.

Mochitsuki video

2008-12-13T21:03:00.002+09:00

You can now download a 3min 25sec video of today's Mochitsuki.

To download the video visit http://www.nishikigoi.tv/harvests.html and select the 'Mochitsuki' link in the 'Other Videos' list.

Mochitsuki

2008-12-13T18:00:00.007+09:00

Earlier in the week I was invited to a Mochitsuki by Tetsutaro Kataoka of Oya Koi Farm. Despite having no real idea what it was I readily accepted the invitation. I gleaned a little info from Yoshi and also from Wikipedia but was still somewhat unsure what would be happening.

It transpired the event was being put on by the bull fighting guys, as detailed many times, very much interlinked with Nishikigoi, many of the people who participate in the bull fights are also Nishikigoi breeders.

The priest started things off by reading some words and seemingly blessing various offerings of food.

He did the same over what was to be the centrepiece of the afternoon's event. He also sprinkled small squares of white paper over it, what these symbolised I am afraid I have no idea.

Tesutaro Kataoka receiving a small cup of ceremonial sake, as did all guests, before a cheer of 'kanpai'.

Meanwhile just outside the main room Satoshi Hiroi of Yagozen Koi Farm was performing perhaps the most important job of the day, looking after the job of cooking huge volumes of rice!

Mochitsuki is a ceremony where Mochi is made. Mochi is a traditional Japanese rice cake, made with cooked glutinous rice, pounded into a paste and moulded into shapes. There is a link to Wikipedia at the bottom of the page where you can read more about different sorts of Mochi.

Senichi Mano (Izumiya) dropped the first bag of steaming hot rice into the mortar, or 'usu' (oo-sue), made from a hollowed out tree trunk.

6 people then started working the rice, the first group included Mano San, his son Ryu, Taro and Jobu Kataoka (Oya), Teruyuki Hiroi (Marusaka).

At first the rice is moulded quite gently with the wooden mallets, or kine (key-nay).

As the rice gets stickier and stickier the rhythm increases until it picks up a real pace!

Eventually, after several minutes of tiring kneading the rice is turned into a very very sticky gooey paste.

Terou Hiroi (Marusaka) using a rope to scrape the pounded rice off of the kine....

....and then scraping it out of the usu.

Having completed 3 servings of mochi it was time for people to down to eating it, served in a variety of different ways, for example in miso soup like dumplings or with natto sauce (fermented soy bean), along with a variety of other traditional Japanese cuisine.

I somewhat lost my appetite when stood next to Mano san and he had the head of a Koi on his plate!

After the meal it was time to get on with making some more mochi, and time for the visitors, including Ojiya Mayor Yasuo Tanii, to have a go at what the others had made look so simple. It was somewhat reminiscent of 'The Generation Game', rhythm and technique were a little lacking I have to say but everyone enjoyed it.

Taro and Jobu showing how it's supposed to be done.

The mochi prepared after the meal were all made into flat sheets which I guess will be cut up for storage or distribution, I'm unsure which.

A video of the mochi making will be available shortly. You can read more abou mochi here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mochi

Where and how will it all end?

2008-12-13T10:41:00.002+09:00

In February 2008 I could withdraw Yen in Japan at 211Yen to £1, way below it's peak above 230Yen. Through February and March this dropped to 196Yen but by the end of March it went back over 200Yen. At the end of September, my last withdrawal before returning to the UK for a couple of weeks was made at 194Yen to £1.

Then it started to go wrong!

I ordered Yen on 3rd October from Travelex, the rate I got was 179. Aside from a few false hopes of recovery since then it has effectively been in free-fall. Today you can purchase Yen from Travelex and you get, wait for it, a whopping 128Yen for every pound!!! Yep, a full 100Yen per pound less than just over a year ago.

Putting this in real terms, my apartment cost 50,000Yen per month. When I first got it that was around £240. Now, in sterling terms, that's £390 per month! Thankfully I don't have to fund that from UK funds any more, if I did I'd be packing my bags.

The impact on the Nishikigoi industry is obviously apparent, there are too many unsold Koi, the story is the same almost everywhere. How long this can be sustained I really don't know. Someone suggested to me the other day that they considered several breeders would close up shop this coming year, I don't think that necessarily true, but something is going to have to change.

Whilst the exchange rates have been less than conducive to sales on the flip side the fuel prices have gone the right way. During the summer fuel prices were increasing dramatically now, as all Japan fuel is imported, the prices are plummeting. Hopefully that can provide a reduction in costs for the breeders and they can price accordingly whilst keeping afloat.

Today I read that the Japanese goverment has announced a 23 trillion yen ($255bn; £171bn) recovery plan aimed at stabilising the economy. This in addition to last months 27 trillion yen to help small businesses and encourage spending. I also read that the US$ is now at it's lowest against the Yen for 13 years.

Through the summer things looked really good for the industry with news of infrastructure development and increased production, now there are certainly some tough times ahead.

The Yamakoshi Year Wall Calendar

2008-12-12T21:44:00.005+09:00

Over the past few weeks people have suggested that I make a Yamakoshi Year wall calendar.

Well, now it's available - better late than never!

In conjunction with CafePress.com a 12 page, 11"x17", wall calendar featuring 12 images taken through the past 12 months can be ordered from here http://www.cafepress.com/yamakoshi.

The calendar is priced at US$24.99 and worldwide shipping is available for a reasonable cost.

The 12 images featured on the calendar are depicted below.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Touchdown New York

2008-12-12T18:37:00.004+09:00

On Wednesday I posted pictures of a shipment leaving Yamakoshi - Destination London and New York. This morning Matt Corrino of Sugarloaf Koi sent me some pictures of the same Koi as they arrived in New York.

The first is taken at the cargo bay at JFK, technically somewhere pictures aren't allowed but Matt sneaked this one on his phone.

The rest of the pics are self explanatory.

Destination London and New York

2008-12-10T23:02:00.004+09:00

Driving into Mushigame this evening there was no doubting something was going on, lights could be seen in Koi houses of Shintaro, Marusda, Maruju, Iwashita, and Yagenji.

My reason for being in Mushigame at 7.30pm was that I knew Shintaro was shipping Koi to both Tategoi Koi in the UK and Sugarloaf Koi in the USA, not just his own Koi, those of many other breeders too.

I popped into Marusda where Toshikatsu was packing a couple of boxes, nisai Showa and Gin Rin Utsuri, which were destined for the US.

At 7.40pm Toshikatsu started, first filling the bags with fresh water to which a little salt and Parazan was added.

The Koi, which had been held in a floating holding net, were moved to a bowl before being placed into the bags.

Once inflated with pure oxygen each of the 3 plastic bags are sealed with rubber bands.

Note a plastic liner inside the box to ensure, should the be any leakage in the bags, the box doesn't get wet.

Each box is then sealed with strong tape

They are then loaded on the back of the Kei truck for the short journey through Mushigame to Shintaro's house.

Back at the Shintaro Koi house Saito San was busy bagging his own Koi assisted by his son Kensuke.

At 8.10pm, back at the Shintaro house many breeders had already dropped off their Koi, Daisuke Ishihari of Yagenji and Toshikatsu, along with Takumi Iwasa from Kinetsu World Express, the shipping company, were busy sticking labels on the boxes. These were the boxes bound for the UK.

Meanwhile Saito San, along with Hiromi San and Kensuke, were busy packing the last of the Shintaro Koi.

At 8.30pm, the alloted time for the breeders to have brought their Koi the truck is loaded.

At 9.10pm all Koi are present and correct and the lorry is closed up ready for it's 260km journey to Tokyo Narita Airport where in the morning the Koi will be flown to JFK and Heathrow.

If you are reading this and own one of the Koi on the truck, I hope it has a good flight!

Street art

2008-12-08T16:51:00.003+09:00

Anyone that's visited Ojiya will be well aware that there are numerous Nishikigoi symbols which adorn the streets, for example the manhole covers depict Nishikigoi, as do the road side bollards. At Ojiya Station there are the pedestrian underpass entrances shaped and decorated like Nishikigoi. It all leaves the unitiated visitor in no doubt that those 'big expensive colourful fish' must have some connection with the town!

As I was driving out towards the station this rather brightly coloured, and new, shop shutter caught my eye.

Today several others also caught my eye.

Some others are obviously works in progress at the moment.

Anybody visiting Ojiya and making there way from the station will now be in no doubt that Nishikigoi are important in Ojiya.

Anybody need their garage door painting?

The snow

2008-12-07T17:26:00.003+09:00

There ended up being a good covering of snow yesterday night, around 8-10 inches up in the mountains. Again many of the side roads have become impassable.

It's a beautiful place when the sun is shining and the sky is blue.

ATM's

2008-12-06T23:49:00.002+09:00

It's fair to say that for almost anyone from the UK we live in a world where plastic is currency, you can pay for almost anything using credit or debit card and, when you need cash, a 24 hour ATM is never far away.

Back in April 2007, whilst visiting the Wakagoi Show in Ojiya, and my first proper voyage of discovery in the mountains of Yamakoshi I found myself in need of extra cash. I tried bank after bank, Ojiya and Nagaoka, trying to find somewhere I could draw cash on my credit card to no avail. One of the bank staff in Nagaoka suggested I try the Post Office machines and directed me there. I never did find the Post Office in Nagaoka, I knew where it was in Ojiya. On placing a card in the machine one of the buttons on screen offered 'Visitor Withdrawal', it looked promising. I tried a couple of credit cards with no joy, as a last resort I tried a UK debit card, amazed the machine dispensed me some cash.

Later I discovered that 7-11 ATM's also allowed withdrawals on UK cards, offering a menu in Japanese, English and Portugese. The downside was it only offered multiples of 10,000yen, and also charged 210yen per withdrawal.

The Post Office and 7-11 have served me well through most of this year although now it's horrifyingly expensive to draw sterling, the rate having gone from around 230yen to 130yen to the pound.

Thankfully the huge plummet in exchange rates co-incided with my return to Japan, which also co-incided with me getting pain in Yen and having a Japanese bank account.

Unfortunately that doesn't make everything simple! As mentioned, when placing a foreign card in the Post Office or 7-11 machines it offers an English menu. Place a Japanese card in the same machines and it offers a Japanese menu!

At 8pm this evening I realised I had better visit the supermarket and get some dinner, before doing so I needed some cash. I tried the machine in Harashin, the supermarket open 24hrs 7 days a week, no joy. Why I had no idea. No problem, I'll try the machines at Jusco. Nope, they were all closed behind shutters! It was only 8pm! I then visited 7-11, suddenly the graphic on screen made sense, it was telling me that if I withdrew 'out of hours' I had to pay a fee.

On pressing the button which I assumed meant 'yes i'd pay' the machine duly dispensed my cash.

After 11 months it's still the simplest things, things that I maybe take for granted, that potentially pose the biggest problems.

Damn weather!

2008-12-06T23:41:00.002+09:00

Well the snow has continued to fall, and it has settled. Saito San tells me 10cm in Mushigame.

It's fair to say that my delight in the falling snow left the Saito family somewhat bemused this afternoon. For them it's the start of what presents a daily chore for the coming months I guess.

I have to say, this evening I'm less than impressed with the snow. My TV signal is sporadic to say the least, with 17 minutes until Arsenal kick off I'm somewhat less than optomistic about watching the game! And as I typed that it came back perfect. Fingers crossed!

The weather!!

2008-12-06T16:18:00.002+09:00

It started off nice and bright this morning, a nice change from yesterday's torrential rain.

Early afternoon I drove out thinking it was nice weather to get some pictures. To my surprise as I crossed the Shinano River heading up to the station, across to the right hand side the Echigo mountains were not visible, just a blanket of cloud. Looking to my left it seemed the same towards Nagaoka.

As I turned left at the Nagashima Filling Station the clouds were closing in from all directions on Mushigame. By the time I reached it there was snow falling, light at first then getting heavier, albeit it didn't show any signs of settling.

Back in Ojiya the snow was falling too, again, it doesn't seem to be settling.

Some tosai numbers

2008-12-06T15:47:00.002+09:00

I needed to catch up with Hideo who works at Isa today. As I passed the Isa nisai and tosai houses I noticed his truck parked there so popped in.

This past week Isa have been doing the sembetsu of their tosai for the first time since they were harvested.

At present they still have around 25,000 tosai, the vast majority Showa, with a smattering of Sanke and Kohaku.

From these just under 8000 are still deemed tategoi and are in seperate ponds so they can see the performance of the 8 sets of Showa parents used. The remaining 17,000 are for sale, half of which are apparently already sold!

Something I've been playing with

2008-12-05T23:06:00.002+09:00

I've mentioned Google maps a few times recently.

Just wanted to share something I've been playing with, very early days for it yet but in itself maybe useful still at this stage.

It will continue to evolve.

http://www.nishikigoi.tv/map2.htm

Beware of the bear......

2008-12-05T17:28:00.002+09:00

The weather here has been truly rubbish, pouring rain all day.

At 3.30pm I was having coffee with Saito San and Hiromi San and asked what time Kensuke and Kosuke would be home, normally they walk around the main road from the school to Mushigame, I figured that they'd be soaking by the time they arrived home.

It transpired that at present they are not allowed to walk from school, the have a bus which take them to and from school. The reason, a bear (or bears) has moved in around the mountains of Yamakoshi. Normally they live in the higher mountains around Tochio but a week or 2 ago bear droppings and lots of shells of eaten nuts were found by the Yagenji mudponds above Mushigame, and also the Yamakoshi bull ring.

I jokingly suggested I was off to track down the bear. Hiromi san replied that I was best not to wear my all black wet weather gear if I did so, people may think I was actually the bear!

Quite what sort of bear this is I have no idea, however, Saito san told me that he went to see the droppings when he heard about them and they were 'big shits'!

Koi Calendars

2008-12-05T17:20:00.003+09:00

After I posted a picture of the 'Splendid Koi Calendar' presently hanging on my wall - What a great way to end the year......

....I've had a number of enquiries about where these calendars can be purchased.

I've been in contact with Kiyoko Fujita at Shin Nippon Kyoiku, the publishers of Rinko who also print the calendars.

Whilst there is no English language web page from which to order the calendars over the internet, they can be ordered by e-mail or fax.

As detailed earlier there are 2 calendars http://www.snkkoi.com/rinkoj/calendar2009j/calendar2009.pdf

The Jumbo calendar (The Splendid Koi one) is 1000yen, the Kokugyo calendar is 900yen.

Shipping to US or Europe for the Jumbo calendar is 1pcs - 1,230yen / 2pcs - 2,085yen / 3pcs - 2,535yen. There is optional insurance of 410yen.

If you wish to order then send the following information to Kiyoko san:

Calendar: splendid / kokugyo
Pcs:
Name:
Address:
Country:
Zip:
Tel:
E-mail:

Card (VISA or MASTER only)
Card number:
Exp. Date (month/year):

Kiyoko san's e-mail address is kiyoko.fujita@snkkoi.com alternatively the fax number for her office in Tokyo is 81-3-3267-7641

Once your enquiry has been received Kiyoko san will confirm exact costs for your order.

I need to get out exploring before the snow....

2008-12-04T19:37:00.002+09:00

I mentioned the other day that over the last few days I've been busy working on some of 2009's plans.

In doing so I was looking at Google maps again, it seems something I missed when I updated the other day about it - New improved Google maps - is that there seems to be a new level of magnification. If you zoom in to the closest level breeders such as Isa, Torazo, and Miyashi are specifically labelled on the original maps provided by Google, admittedly in Japanese, but you can all read Japanese now, can't you?! ;-) Likewise all the hotels are labelled, Sun Plaza, Nishikigoi no Sato, Baden Baden (familiar to most that have stayed in Nagaoka), and many other well known spots are all specifically marked on the Japanese maps. What an amazing invention the Internet continues to be.

This new zoom level has also introduced a new level of road detail, some of which I know are really little more than tracks. When you visit places like the top of Kanagura Yama there are places you can see in the mountains that are clearly accessed by someone. The route to one particular mountain, that that shrouds Dainichi, Hoshikin and Marudo from view from Kanagura Yama, has been a bit of a mystery to me. Google maps now shows the route to the top and it should offer some good views!

Sadly this week really doesn't offer the opportunity to go exploring, sometimes a quick detour ends up taking hours to complete and I simply don't have the time right now.

I've made a few brief trips over the last few days to Mushigame where Saito San is going through the rest of his tosai. I mentioned the other day the Showa - A good headache! - now Saito San is going through the Sanke. It's fair to say his headache continues.

Sadly my involvement and visits are too brief at the moment. When I popped in this afternoon, following a telemeeting with Aika re Mondo that was over an hour, Saito San turned and said, 'what, all day in bed sleeping?'

Getting the slalom course ready

2008-12-02T20:30:00.003+09:00

The last few days have continued to be quiet for me on the Koi front, my time over the last 2 days has continued to be concentrated on Nishikigoi Mondo and also a lengthy show article for Koi magazine back in the UK.

Driving back from a visit to Shintaro this afternoon I noticed they'd started putting out the poles which mark the side of the road when the snow comes and hides it. How deep!!!

Despite the fact that they were there for the first 4+ months of my stay I'd somewhat forgotten their existence. Soon they'll be all over the mountains.

It's hard to believe that I've now completed 11 months staying here in Japan and I have to admit, was my trip still to be just the 'Yamakoshi Year', I'd be a little disappointed for it to be ending, if for nothing more than it would feel it was ending with a bit of a whimper, it's a very quiet time here.

Whilst I've learn't a whole lot, and experienced an enormous amount, during those 11 months I still feel I've only scratched the surface of both Niigata, Nishikigoi and Japan as a whole.

I'll be returning to the UK on 23rd December for Christmas and New Year, if the next 3 weeks go as fast as the previous 48 then Christmas Day will be here in no time.

For me those 3 weeks will be about first getting Nishikigoi Mondo finished in order for it to be available very early in 2009 and then continuing plans for 2009 itself, it promises to be another exciting year.

I somewhat wish it would snow again, I want to learn to ski!

iPods

2008-11-30T16:32:00.002+09:00

I think iPods are pretty clever things, having evolved into much more than just music players as they started out.

Today my iPod Touch took on a new role, it became my personal electronic English/Japanese dictionary.

Whilst going through some of the hundreds of 'favourites' I've got stored on Internet Explorer I clicked on this link http://en.kanjiroushi.net/, a site that was obviously stored when I was in one of my Nihongo study moods. On there I saw mention of an application for the iPod/iPhone called 'Kotoba' which looked interesting.

Basically, all I can say is that if you have an iPod Touch or iPhone, do yourself a favour and download Kotoba, it is completely FREE!!

Once you have done so your iPod will have a 133,355 word Japanese/English dictionary. Some entries are also in French, German and Russian!

The dictionary will accept input in English, Romaji, Hiragana and you can also draw Kanji characters on the touch screen!!

For some Kanji characters it even shows you how to draw them correctly!!!

It's not often that something that's free is this good!

Read more at http://kotoba.pierrephi.net/

A quiet couple of days

2008-11-29T17:46:00.003+09:00

The last couple of days have been rather uneventful for me. With the deadline for Nishikigoi Mondo to go to the publishers looming ever closer that's occupied a whole lot of my time.

Saito San resumes sembetsu of his tosai again next week including the best Sanke, the pond where my tosai resides, as well as the second string tosai in the bottom greenhouse, the ponds there contain some tosai that really seem to have improved since the last sembetsu. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing more of the tosai up close following the show the other day - A good headache!

I headed out this afternoon to see if I could get some nice pics, looking from my apartment window there seemed a nice afternoon 'glow' as the sun was going down.

Sadly my search for some pics wasn't overly successful, maybe the best for my efforts this afternoon....

A good headache!

2008-11-27T17:40:00.006+09:00

Followers of the blog will be aware that I've got a bit of a thing about Showa, in particular this year with Shintaro Showa, having been involved with them since their first proper culling which seems a long while ago in July - High pressure culling..... It is of course only 4 months ago!

Since there last selection when they were harvested from the mudponds at the end of September - The sort of day dreams are made of.... - they've been fed 4-5 times per day in the greenhouses - I want that one, no that one, no........

Today Saito San went through the Showa again for the 1st time since they've been inside.

I was particularly interested to see what was going to make the grade and what wasn't, standing next to the pond, which had 320 Showa plus 109 Kohaku, at feeding time you could never really see anything that was an obvious reject.

I had arranged to arrive at 9am, having driven around for a while in search of some more morning pics - Misty morning - without success, I arrived around 8.40am for coffee. 'OK, let's start', Saito San said as I walked into the living room. 'Yes boss', I replied. 'I'm only boss if I pay you!', Saito San stated.

With the pond netted of all but 2 Koi, 1 Showa and 1 Kohaku, Saito San started sorting through them, firstly seperating by size. There were 2 quite distinct sizes, likely from the 2 different parent sets that were mixed in the pond. At the same time Saito San removed any obvious rejects, this amounted to the grand total of 4!

Having completed that exercise Saito San then went through the larger ones, best Showa were placed back into a suspended net in the pond, 2nd best in a bowl, rejects.....no there were no rejects.

By this stage there were several bowls of Koi, the small ones still to be sorted through, the 2nd best Showa and the Kohaku that remained unsorted, and all the small ones.

Saito San was looking a little flustered, 'what's wrong', I asked.

'Headache', he replied.

'Too many good tosai?' I asked, knowing that Saito San had anticipated reducing numbers somewhat more than was evident.

'Yes, it's a good headache!'

There are 3 Shintaro greenhouses, 1 behind the family home, the one we were in, and these 2 situated a 100 metres or so down the hill, the front one containing the '2nd grade' tosai, the other with nisai and older.

All the houses contain 4 ponds, all of a similar size, only 1 of which is empty. The 2nd grade tosai, more heavily stocked than the top grade, have come on in leaps and bounds since being brought inside, that is obvious when standing watching, and again little or no rubbish. Often when looking at tosai ponds you see a good number of shiro muji or shiro bekko, etc, not here at the moment - I'm touching a big lump of wood whilst saying it! I don't know but I suspect Saito San had anticipated spreading the tosai in the bottom house around the 'free' pond.

In the end a decision was made to move the lesser grade Showa down to the bottom greenhouse. Of course, until you start sorting a pond up close it's difficult to know exactly what the numbers will be. For now these have taken priority.

In total I think 7 out of 429 were rejected at this selection.

I wanted to get some pics of some of the tosai that have been posted before so they were moved from floating net to bowl to pick from. As I was taking the pictures Saito San returned others to the pond.

This is one that was in the group shots here - Maybe my last sembetsu....

This one was previously photographed here The end....

This was photographed here - The sort of day dreams are made of....

A couple of new ones that caught my eye.

Finally, what was Saito San's number one, you can see it previously here - The sort of day dreams are made of.... and here - Maybe my last sembetsu....

If the selection process had given Saito San a good headache I was to proceed to give him a worse one.

Whilst I was taking pictures someone turned up and Saito San disappeared. I continued to select through the tosai, returning some to the pond, as Saito San had been doing, whilst looking for a few to photograph. I was finally left with a bowl containing 9.

At this point Saito San returned. 'Don't worry', I said, 'I've put all the others back for you.'

'Thank you, how many?', Saito San asked.

At this point I wanted the ground to swallow me up, I hadn't realised Saito San had been counting them as he put them back, his not counting Koi had been an ongoing joke through the summer to the point I bought him some handheld counters.

I put my camera away and helped tidy the Koi house feeling a complete idiot!

What I do know though is that the Showa were very beautiful and more than ever I wanted to breed Koi!

Misty morning

2008-11-26T18:50:00.003+09:00

Having set my alarm for 4.30am to watch Arsenal play Dynamo Kiev in the UEFA Champions League, a game they incidentally one putting them through the the next stage of the competition thus vindicating the early alarm call, I did some bits on Nishikigoi Mondo before heading out to search for a sunrise. I wasn't hopeful, it was grey are damp.

There was lots of low cloud around, particularly in the river valley in the Kawaguchi direction, so I headed that way, deciding that 'the place I fell in love' just off Route 71 would be a good spot.

When I arrived things were looking really promising that a great shot would maybe available, the sun just breaking through the clouds. This was my first pic, not quite what I was after, and probably ended up the best I was to actually get.

Within minutes of arrival, as the sun warmed the air, the cloud surged up from the river valley covering the higher ground in a blanket of white. I moved on figuring a great shot must be for the taking somewhere.

I headed towards the Marudo mudponds and the place with the no good sunset, still plenty of mist down below but not what I was really after. Again, I moved on, tracing my steps back to 'the place I fell in love', through Shiodani and towards the ski slope.

Along the road between Shiodani and the Takezawa, on which the ski slope entrance is located, there is a large parking area, probably enough space for at least a dozen coaches, in order people can observe the view below. It is one that is oft photographed with low lying mist. Whilst there was a shaft of sunlight in the distance it appeared there was little chance of it breaking through and illuminating the area directly in front. Another photographer arrived and set up all his gear, I was pretty confident he was wasting his time. Perhaps the ski slope itself was the place.

The snow of last week has now all gone and as such it was again possible to drive to the top of the ski slope. The view across to Mushigame wasn't great.

Looking directly down the ski slope, certainly no skiing here just yet! I had previously come from the right and, as you can see, the mist was rolling in fast, fast enough for me to head straight back down in case visibility became zero.

I headed around towards Mushigame and up to the 'breakfast spot', not really with any great expectation. I wasn't to be surprised.

It seemed that the Arsenal victory would remain the highlight of this morning.

New improved Google maps

2008-11-26T04:39:00.003+09:00

I can't believe that it's way back in March that I first posted about Google maps , where did those 8 months go!?!?!

A couple of days later I posted a link to a map that I'd created with a few breeders on it, along with other points of interest - Google maps (again)

Yesterday I happened to be looking at another Japanese map and noticed some changes to when I last looked, specifically that some Japanese place names were now in English, along with a new option to show 'terrain', giving an indication of the landscape.

Whilst my map may have no new points of interested added recently it also has some place names in English and the terrain option, you can view it here.

As time allows I'll be going through and be adding a whole load more breeders and points of interest.

I'm back

2008-11-25T18:37:00.002+09:00

For anyone that's wondering where I'd vanished to I'm back.

The last 2 days have been spent working on Nishikigoi Mondo with Aika who came across to Ojiya so that a few more chapters could be finalised.

The snow has virtually all disappeared now, all roads now navigable without a problem I would suspect, certainly going across the 'breakfast spot' yesterday was no problem at all, the tracks I ploughed the other day were now bare tarmac.

Tonight I missed what looked an amazing sunset having dropped Aika back to Nagaoka to return to Tokyo, in the distance the tops of the Echigo mountains could be seen above a blanket of cloud, all of which glowed orange in the evening sun. Sadly by the time I'd have got to any decent viewpoint it would have long since disappeared.

With Arsenal live on TV at 4.30am, my plan is then to go find a nice sunrise, if there is one, I'm hoping so.

Where did it all go?

2008-11-22T16:40:00.005+09:00

My phone burst into life at 8.45 this morning, it was Saito San advising me that my truck was ready.

Last night we had torrential rain here in Ojiya, along with a spectacular thunder storm, which washed all but the last traces of snow away, as such it was no problem to head off to 'Auto Trendy', the garage where Hiromi San's brother works, in the 2WD snow tyreless car that they'd lent me.

Amongst the works that had been carried out was replacing the 2 snow tyres on the rear as such I was somewhat shocked that the bill was only 5000 yen more than the cost of the 2 front tyres I'd purchased back in September. Lesson learned!!

Then it was up to Mushigame to pick Saito San up and drive him back to my apartment where his truck was having borrowed it for the last couple of days.

The amount of snow in Mushigame was also dramatically reduced as such I figured places that I'd ruled out as now being inaccessible for the rest of the winter would be reachable - especially with sparkly new snow tyres on the truck. Saito San thinks that will be the end of the snow for this year, not returning until the end of December, exactly as it did last year.

I headed up Route 551 and reached the point where the snow had been cleared to the other day - New afternoon, new wheels. It looked to only be about 10-12cm deep and quite slushy. I figured if the truck stopped going up then gravity would roll it back down the tracks it had already made.

These trucks really are great work horses in the mountains, it carved it's way through the snow with no problem at all, snow where only animals had previously been and left their mark.

As ever the view was beautiful.

At the end of the road half of me was tempted to turn left and see if Kanagura Yama was passable. The sensible half of me won the day today, I turned right into Mushigame.

I don't know exactly what the sign says but it doesn't take Einstein to work it out!!!

I headed around the main road, this the view back across to Mushigame.

My next destination was to be Shiodani, I wondered whether the road from the ski slope in Takezawa to Shiodani was open, having discussed it with someone back in the UK just yesterday.

I think it's now very clear what the sign says!

Sticking to the main road I headed for Shiodani and then onward towards Kawaguchi, basically the same route as taken back on Thursday. I'd presumed 'the place I fell in love would be accessible now too. Unfortunately there is a pile of snow created by the snow clearing machines which is impossible to cross.

I about turned and headed back to Shiodani. On my way down from there to Route 291 I decided to try the road that heads up to the large Marudo mud pond, maybe that was passable now?

Again, there was around 10-15cm of snow on the ground that hadn't been cleared, it is however much flatter than the road up to the 'Breakfast Spot', as such given that the truck had managed that I figured this would be no problem.

We cut our way through the virgin snow, in places there was nothing but a little slush on the road where it had been exposed to sun for much of the day.

We reached the Marudo mud pond no problem.

Carrying on further we reached the place where the 'Tonight's 'no good' sunset....' pics were taken. Sadly the light was deteriorating.

Carrying on further we made it to the place I fell in love, the clouds sadly hiding many of the mountains in the distance.

With the light gone, and work to do, I headed back home. With the added confidence of a set of tyre tracks to follow, I felt like I was the late great Colin Mcrae, former World Rally Champion.

At this point people are probably expecting a story of something going wrong, nothing did, I just had great fun in the snow whilst it's still here.

New afternoon, new wheels

2008-11-20T18:01:00.002+09:00

Whilst reviving my slightly cold and damp legs and feet sitting on Shintaro's heated rug with them under the table blanket, known as a 'kotatsu' in Japan, Saito San offered me the use of his truck, mine likely to be back on Saturday. I presumed that he'd want it himself at some point between now and then, which he confirmed he would, but he'd call me when he did and arrange to pick it up. 'You're a special guest', he said.

As we consumed several cups of hot coffee, crisps and fresh pear, Hiromi San explained that at 4am they'd been awoken by the snow clearing machines and they knew that the snow had been heavy, it then continued to fall into daylight. Apparently this level of snow is unusual for the first fall, normally it's little more than a ground cover.

Hiromi San suggested that the Breakfast Spot, where I'd been less than 24 hours before, would probably now be impassable.

Saito San extricated his truck, itself now protected by the car port built last year, from the accumulated snow around it, I donned my wet weather gear again and headed off.

As they say, beggars can't be choosers, but Saito San's Suzuki kei truck seemed to have a little less leg room than my Daihatsu. It wasn't helped by my legs which were a little achy to say the least, every gear change seemed to require a little more effort than it should.

I headed out of Mushigame for the breakfast spot, sure enough Hiromi San was correct, the road was blocked at the exact same point that it had been last February when we climbed there with Saito San - The Breakfast Spot Revisited

I headed back around the main road with a view to heading up Route 551 from Izumiya, last year I'd got within the last bend or so on the day it started snowing.

On route I stopped and took this view looking down the valley from Marusada.

Heading up Route 551, bearing in mind Saito San's warning that his snow tyres weren't great. One lady was busy clearing the area in front of her house by pushing the snow into the middle of the road. Thankfully the truck's tyres cut through it without incident.

My progress was however finally halted, again in the exact same spot where I had to start my climbs to the Breakfast Spot last year. Whether this road will now clear before spring only time will tell, it already has a good 30cm+ snow covering it.

I decided to head out towards Kawaguchi and 'the place I fell in love'. On route this afternoon's first incident happened.

A fairly large Toyota saloon car was coming in the opposite direction. He stopped to allow me through, there was plenty of room for both of us, in fact 2 cars the size of his could have passed. As I got closer he presumably thought things were a little tight and moved forward and over to his left. First his front wheel went into the large gulley at the side of the road which had been hidden by snow, milliseconds later his rear wheel followed. He was going nowhere. I had a very narrow escape with one of these gullies last October whilst reversing away from a mudpond, thankfully only one of my wheels went in and I was able to escape unaided.

I got out of my truck with some trepidation and offered my immediate apologies, with my little Japanese I knew I was absolved of any blame and he was accepting full responsibility, which was the case anyway, he was driving. We both looked at the front, then the back, then the front, then the back, of the stranded car. I was in search of some inspiration, a tow rope and some super strengh from Saito San's kei truck. There was no tow rope. The driver, dressed in suit and tie, assured me it was no problem and I should just carry on, as such I did so while he made calls for help.

On arrival at the turning to 'the place I fell in love' it was another road now completely blocked. Just yesterday Bram and I zipped up there no problem at all. This road also take you up to Marudo's 'new' large mudpond, another place now out of bounds, along with the place these pictures were taken - Tonight's 'no good' sunset....

It's really quite hard to find a good, uninterrupted, shot of the mountains in the distance.

There was a lovely band of light falling across the landscape at this spot. Situated down amongst the trees to the right hand side of this picture are the 'Gardner mud ponds'.

I headed down the road towards them. There are a couple of breeders down this small road, who they are I've no idea, likewise they may well have stopped breeding, there are a number of disused concrete ponds as well as all the recently refurbished mud ponds. Many are still in disrepair. As ever snow clearing ends at the last house, the mudponds are perhaps 100m further down the slope.

Despite already aching legs I trekked down the slope in the knee deep snow. Of course going down is gravity aided!! Getting back would prove tougher.

Anyway, here they are, a truly inspirational location.

I did an about turn to go back to Mushigame, only really because out of interest I wanted to measure this morning's walk - No wheels, no problem....

As I followed Route 71 around I passed the stranded car, the driver still on the phone. As I write this I kind of feel guilty for not stopping, I could have taken him to Shiodani where maybe he'd have enlisted some willing volunteers, as I had on October 23rd 2007 when my car was stuck on 3 wheels at the bottom of a dirt track adjacent to a drop of several hundred feet down a bank! Too late now I guess.

I got to Mushigame, measured my walk to be within a gnats whisker of 15km, and went to get some shopping in the supermarket. On my return to Saito San's truck I placed my key in the ignition and turned it, nothing, the lights on the dashboard came on but not a hint of it firing. Lights all worked, fan worked, so i concluded not battery. There was no reason for it to be flat.

I somewhat hesitantly called Saito San. He was unable to come down at that time but would call me later if he could. I was just a 6-7 minute from my apartment anyhow so it wasn't an immediate problem. Just as I got back Saito San called asking me to try putting it into gear and then starting it. This is actually one of my worst driving habits anyway, I was sure I'd already have subconsciously done that. Anyway, back out into the snow and ice I returned to Harashin where the car was. Into first gear, turn the key, bingo, it launched into life.

I'm sure that there is a simple explanation of why that worked, I don't really care what it is, I'm just glad it did!

If I ever ask to borrow your car, ask yourself why you'd ever want to lend it to me!!

No wheels, no problem....

2008-11-20T16:57:00.005+09:00

As mentioned yesterday I had been grounded today as Hiromi San's brother had asked that I didn't drive the loan car due to it's lack of snow tyres.

I also mentioned yesterday that snow was falling heavily in Ojiya, somewhat unexpectedly. By this morning there was a good 12-15cm which the water sprinklers were doing there best to clear, but there was still plenty of slush and ice about, even driving locally was out of the question.

I decided to go through with a plan that was half hatched yesterday over a beer. I'd walk to Mushigame! Despite driving this route literally 100's and 100's of times, and also cycling much of it, I really wasn't entirely sure how far it was, nor how long it would take me.

At 9.40am I locked door of my apartment and headed off, stopping at 7-11 for some high carbohydrate breakfast. The pavements were very difficult to walk on and, quite frankly, if I'd had no option but to use them I would have given it up as a non starter. I chose to walk along the edge of the snow line on the road which was far easier, it did however carry the danger of being splatted by slushy snow as a vehicle drove through it as opposed to either side of it.

Having never done it before, I was surprised that Ojiya Station is a good 30 minutes walk from my apartment. I started to doubt my sanity and question how long my little morning walk was going to take in total.

Continuing along I reached Isa where the water sprinklers in the road are more like fountains in Trafalgar Square, shooting water 6ft in the air and across the whole width of the road. There was no option than to get a little wet, thankfully I had waterproof trousers and a water resistant fleece.

When I reached Marusei it started raining, horrible cold rain. I donned my full wet weather gear and continued. I was again surprised that it was actually the best part of 90 minutes to reach Torazo. Shortly after at Otsuka, as it had done yesterday, the rain turned to snow. Deep joy!

I kind of figured that this was the point of no return, to go back I'd be walking the same distance as going all the way to Mushigame where I knew a hot drink and, hopefully, a lift home was waiting.

By the time I reached the Nokyo Auction site the snow had stopped and the sky a little brighter.

Passing Izumiya I passed the point which is the furthest that I've cycled into this area from Ojiya.

I figured I should really take some photographs. This view on the right hand side between Dainichi and Tyohei is one that I photographed regularly last year as an ongoing indication of the snow conditions, I'm pretty sure it was the first 'snow' pic i took when I arrived in December. It seemed fitting to capture it again.

The first picture is actually one taken on 30th December 2007.

This one was taken this morning.

Opposite the Nagashima Filling Station, just a few hundred metres further up the road there are some vending machines. I finished the bottle of water I'd bought at 7-11 and purchased a new one. From here was going to be the hardest part of the walk, just under 3.5kms uphill into Mushigame village. It was also potentially going to test my will power and commitment, if Saito San, one of the Yagenji brother, Marusada, or any of the other breeders driven past and offered me a lift would I be able to turn it down?

I was surprised how good I felt to be honest, since climbing Fuji in August 2006 my 'gym time' has been somewhat limited apart from brief forays with cycling in the summer.

As i climbed behind me was a little break in the grey sky. I think someone must have been watching out for me, as I approached Shintaro's tosai ponds the grey clouds peeled back revealing a lovely blue sky.

A little further to my left the sky was still fully grey looking over towards Maruju.

You can see the sort of snow levels there were in Mushigame, about 30-40cms. This was the homeward leg, Shintaro's greenhouse to the home, the steepest part of the walk, a part that my 2WD hire car refused to negotiate in the snow in December!

A very welcome sight, the Shintaro home!

I rang the bell and the usual 'dozo' came in reply. I stripped off my wet weather gear, and walking boots, and went into the living room.

'Have you walked?', Saito San asked.

'Yes', I replied.

'From where?'

'Ojiya'.

Where in Ojiya?'

'My apartment'.

'Why didn't you just phone', Saito San asked picking up his mobile phone.

'The challenge', I replied.

I later measured the walk at almost dead on 15km, it took 2hrs 55mins, and was hugely invigorating. With many places I want to reach now out of bounds to cars and trucks I'll be doing a whole lot more trekking across snow covered roads.

OK, winter is here in Ojiya too!!

2008-11-20T00:34:00.002+09:00

I detailed earlier the snow in Yamakoshi - Yamakoshi white out.....

I walked out my apartment this evening to go and get some dinner and it was kind of sleety, slushy snow.

A few hours later we have a good few inches and it's still falling heavily!!

Who knows what tomorrow will bring!?!

Yamakoshi white out....

2008-11-19T18:12:00.005+09:00

For those that have viewed the Breakfast Spot panorama taken today at 1.30pm - Maybe the final Breakfast Spot panorama - you may be thinking that the previous few days talk about impending snow had proven to be incorrect.

This was the view from the Breakfast Spot at 3.30pm!! Visibility was minimal as Yamakoshi was engulfed in snow.

Strong winds last night saw a significant downward shift in temperatures, exactly as had been predicted by the weather forecast. Bram, who has been working at Marudo for the last 3 months, is due to leave Niigata on Sunday and had asked me to take him around a few other breeders and show him some sights today. As I was up early, and hoping there'd been some snow, I went via Mushigame.

At first there seemed to be little sign that it had snowed however, as I proceeded along Route 291 I could see a little snow on the mountains in the distance and also on Kanagura Yama to my left.

This was the view as I made my way up the hill to Mushigame from Nagashima Filling Station on R291. Whilst there was some snow it was very much confined to the highest ground.

I headed to the Breakfast Spot which, by the time I'd got there, was very much in the clouds.

The trees in the valley had a light dusting which, on speaking to Saito San and Hiromi San had just fallen.

I picked Bram up from Marudo just after 9am, from their snow could be seen up on Kanagura Yama but by then the sky had cleared and the sun was out. As you'll have seen from the panoramic image, by midday the snow had disappeared.

We stopped at several breeders through the morning, went to the top of Kanagura Yama where they was a truly biting wind blowing.

In the afternoon we headed out to the Gardner mudponds, passing the place I fell in love - The place I fell in love - revisited. The Echigo Mountains in the distance had a good head of snow - no doubt to the delight of Yuzawa's skiers.

From there we headed back towards Kawaguchi and Route 17 to return to Marudo. In front of us, in the direction of Nagaoka, the sky was very grey and clearly full of rain.

When we got to Marudo Chris Edwards of Ornafish UK was there with some customers so I popped in to say hello. As I did so the heavens opened, mixed in with the rain some sleety snow.

I figured in Yamakoshi it'd be real snow so decided to head up there, 2WD and non-snow tyres.

As I passed Otsuka the sleety rain turned into proper snow. By the time I reached the outskirts of Mushigame it was really coming down.

Mushigame rooftops with a layer of snow at 3.28pm, on route to the Breakfast Spot.

I retreated home to Ojiya where the weather was just rainy. Shortly after Saito San sent me these pictures taken at 4.30pm. As you can see, the snow contined to fall and, as it's still raining here, I presume the snow is still falling in Yamakoshi.

I've also been grounded tomorrow, Hiromi San's brother has asked that I don't drive the car tomorrow due to it's lack of snow tyres.

Maybe the final Breakfast Spot panorama

2008-11-19T17:58:00.004+09:00

The first Breakfast Spot panoramic image was taken back on 22nd March 2008, you can download it here - Breakfast spot panorama

The last one was taken on 4th August - Breakfast Spot panorama updated - following that link will take you back through all the others and the changing seasons in Yamakoshi from the Breakfast Spot.

This was taken at 1.30pm today, how the weather was to change over the course of the next 2 hours!!

Click on the image to download a 4000 pixel wide version.

Ojiya Cam

2008-11-19T07:38:00.001+09:00

You can see the view from my apartment at http://www.theyamakoshiyear.com/webcam/webcam.html

Today it's grey, wet and miserable! Hopefully the rain is falling as snow in Yamakoshi!

Ojiya Cam - back soon

2008-11-18T21:25:00.003+09:00

I've mentioned several times over the last few days that snow is due in Yamakoshi any day. Speaking to a fellow 'Brit' a couple of weeks back he stated that you'd think from the blog earlier in the year that I'd never seen snow before - I hadn't, at least not like the snow here! I've never been on a skiing holiday which, in reality, is pretty much the only time 'Brits' would see such snow.

This year I fully intend to take more advantage of the snow on my doorstep - as much as anything trekking to places I've photographed through the year to picture them snow clad.

Anyone that's travelled to Nagaoka on the Shinkansen from Tokyo will have passed through Echigo Yuzawa. The Yuzawa are is one of the premium skiing and snow sport areas of Japan. It is just 50 minutes or so away along the Interchange from Ojiya, indeed, you can stay on Route 17 and get there as well, albeit rather more slowly.

There is a great website, http://www.snowjapan.com/, that is actually based in Yuzawa. It is a buzz at the moment as people get excited about the snow that has started falling in Yuzawa today and due here in Yamakoshi tomorrow.

One of the features of the site is the 'Webcam Centre' - http://www.snowjapan.com/e/daily/webcam/index.html - with webcams from all over ski areas of Japan, including here in Niigata.

Having looked at these today I realised I really should get the Ojiya Cam back up and running. I'm presently testing some new software - last time the software would stop uploading for no apparent reason on too regular a basis without warning. Tonight I've been testing some new software and all seems OK. Assuming it's still uploading images tomorrow morning then Ojiya Cam will be back.

Oh, and the weather, a couple of hours ago some strong winds came blowing through Ojiya. With them the temperature dropped dramatically. Seems the predicted snow is highly likely to arrive tomorrow.

The nice people at Daihatsu....

2008-11-18T16:52:00.002+09:00

As mentioned yesterday -I was only gone a few days..... - my truck has developed a steering problem.

I arranged to take it to the garage where Hiromi San's brother works this morning. The immediate prognosis was not good, he had no idea what the problem and subsequent cost would be.

They kindly loaned me the use of another car whilst mine was in repair, a Mitsubishi Minica, similar to that pictured below. It makes my truck feel positively huge!! At least I'm still mobile although with snow predicted for tomorrow I don't know how long it's 2WD will suffice. Time will tell.

Having left my truck I headed up to Mushigame to see Saito San. 'Oh, maybe very expensive to repair', he said. Not exactly what I wanted to hear!!

Whilst we sat down having coffee the phone rang, it was Hiromi San's brother with an update. I couldn't understand most of what was being said however, when Saito San sad 'dame', pronounced 'da-may', which means 'no good', I didn't like the sound of the way it was going.

It was somewhat a surprise to then learn that the power steering fault was being fixed by Daihatsu free of charge. I didn't quite get to the bottom of why this was, Saito San saying it was a 'recall'. Whether there had been problems with the part on this model of truck previously I'm not sure. However, with 115,000km under it's belt it lasted OK. Anyway, I wasn't complaining.

Unfortunately the truck also needed a new snow tyre fitted and, as it's done 25,000km without me even looking at the engine I figured a service was somewhat overdue, so it wasn't all for free.

Hopefully in 3 days time the truck will be fit to see me through the winter as well as it did last year.

I was only gone a few days.....

2008-11-17T14:33:00.002+09:00

.....but the mountains are very different upon my return.

I posted about my attempts to capture the colours of autumn - A couple of feeble attempts..... - and the far superior pictures that Saito San had taken - An eye for beauty....

Today driving over the top of Kanagura Yama the road is in places hidden beneath a carpet of golden leaves, many trees are now bare and others delivering a gentle shower of leaves as a light breeze blows through them. From a distance many of the mountains are largely devoid of the vibrant colouration of a few days ago.

Sitting having coffee at the Shintaro house Hiromi San told me they'd put on the snow tyres earlier this morning because it would soon be snowing. As I stated yesterday - What no snow? - the Nagaoka forecast just shows rain. Apparently it's possible Yamakoshi will see the first snowfall of the winter on Wednesday. The Nagaoka temperatures are due to drop to 4c according to the forecast http://www.accuweather.com/world-forecast.asp?partner=netweather&traveler=0&locCode=ASIJPJA029NAGAOKA&metric=1. Whilst Nagaoka may only get rain it's likely to be snow in the mountains. This was indeed a phenomenon I experienced last year, often I'd leave Ojiya in the rain and by the time I reached Izumiya it would be snowing. Having passed over the mountain and down the otherside to where Kaneko's premises are it would again be raining.

Unforunately my faithful truck which has taken me well over 25,000km since I first got it back in January has decided to develop a problem with the power steering, hopefully I can get it fixed before any snow falls, the mountain roads are not a place for a vehicle with faulty steering at the best of times, certainly not with snow on them!!

That Showa

2008-11-16T18:39:00.002+09:00

I mentioned yesterday a rather special Showa at the show - Rinyukai Show - old friends and acquaintances.....

The Koi wasn't on my 2008 'Splendid Koi Calendar' however, it will be gracing my wall in July and August 2009 as it features on the 2009 'Splendid Koi Calendar'.

It was apparently Grand Champion at the 4th Kyurinkai Show and owned by Kenichi Ogata from Fukuoka.

Keep an eye out for her in future.

What no snow?

2008-11-16T18:34:00.002+09:00

You may have noticed a little 'weather widget' added to the left hand side of the blog which reports the Nagaoka weather.

If you click on the '15 day' link then it takes you right until the end of November. According to the forecast there will be no snow until at least December.

http://www.accuweather.com/world-forecast-15day.asp?partner=accuweather&traveler=0&locCode=ASIJPJA029NAGAOKA&metric=1

The Rinyukai Show - All the major winners

2008-11-16T17:40:00.004+09:00

When I arrived at Tokyo Dome today I knew I had a very limited window of opportunity to get pictures, to my dismay it was raining. Photographing Koi is a challenge at the best of times, when there are rain drops falling on the vats as well it is pure frustration.

A brief 10 minute lightening of the rain enabled me to get pics of the Koi I hadn't yesterday, below are all the major winners starting from Grand Champion, unfortunately the signs were in Japanese therefore I'm not 100% what prizes relate to what Koi, but I believe the last Koi to be Baby Champion.

Please note, you are welcome to post these pictures on discussion forums as long as a link is provided to this blog.

Rinyukai Show - old friends and acquaintances....

2008-11-15T19:57:00.004+09:00

.....some I look forward to seeing again....

A number of Koi were on show that I'm familiar with from previous shows.

First up my favourite Koi from the Sakai Hiroshima auction I attended in October 2008. Since it has won Adult Champion at the 2008 AJNPA Show and 58bu Kokugyo at the 2008 Wakagoi Show.

Most expensive Koi at the same auction, Adult Champion at the 2007 Rinyukai Show. The change in body shape between the 2 Koi over the summer since the Wakagoi Show is amazing. Without checking back to previous pics of this Koi the sumi seems to have developed significantly.

I spoke to Kentaro Sakai about both Koi at the Wakagoi, at that point in time he preferred the Koi above, I'd be interested to know his thoughts now. I'm a little concerned the body of the Koi below is a little too much for it's size.

A truly awesome example of Kumonryu, best in variety at the 2008 AJNPA All Japan Show. Anyone who saw it, or perhaps tried to photograph it, will recall it proved tricky, sticking it's head in the side of the vat and waving it's tail. It proved to be know different.

38bu Kokugyo at the 2008 Wakagoi Show, it had some transport damage on the scales, still does as much for me know as it did at the Wakagoi - NOTHING!

Best in 55bu at the 2007 Niigata Nogyosai, bred by Miyaishi Koi Farm.

For me, the best Koi at the show, 85cm Showa, bred by Ueno Koi Farm. Perfect in every way apart from perhaps one, the body. Skin, pattern, sumi, beni. shiroji, all awesome. I have a feeling this Showa may have been on my 'Splendid Koi' calendar this year, not 100% sure though. If it was the body was better in the pics. The Koi received nominations for GC, obviously not in the top 3. It is only 6 years old as far as I understand. If it can body up over the next year or 2 and retain quality I suggest another possible All Japan GC.

Rinyukai Show - Saturday - Part 1

2008-11-15T19:07:00.004+09:00

I have to say I was a touch apprehensive going to the show ground this morning having left there yesterday with around 10 Koi having been benched.

It must have been a rather frenetic few hours after I left at 5pm because all vats were full, some very nice Koi amongst them.

Everything was extremely low key compared to, for example, the AJNPA and ZNA All Japan Shows, the Wakagoi, or the Niigata Nogyosai.

A small gathering at the beginning which saw the judges, all breeders including Izumiya, Marudo, Dainichi, Omosako, Sakai Hiroshima, Maruyama, Kazuto, Isa, sellect balls from a box to decide teams.

First task of the day, as ever, to select Grand Champion.

Posting your vote - serious stuff - it seems!

Counting up the first lot votes.

3 Koi moved forward, 1 significantly smaller than the other 2, at the moment I don't have numbers of votes but one seemed way out ahead.

A second ballot would decide the GC.

Rinyukai Show - The Grand Champion

2008-11-15T19:06:00.000+09:00

After the second ballot the Grand Champion is moved to it's display vat.

Whilst the venue for the show may not have been to my particular taste the Grand Champion attracted an instant crowd, there was a baseball game in the 'dome' today, what crowd that attracts to the venue I'm unsure. Such moments do undoubtedly confirm the complete lack of awareness of Nishikigoi in Japan.

I don't have too many details about the GC at this stage, circa 85cms.

The Rinyukai Show - things can only get better

2008-11-14T20:54:00.005+09:00

I arrived in Tokyo this morning and headed first to the office to do some work before heading out to the Tokyo Dome, site of this weekend's Riyukai Show.

This is both the first time I've visited this particular show and also the first time I've visited the Tokyo Dome.

A large complex with roller coasters and other amusement park rides, loads of shops and a big screen showing baseball highlights hardly created the usual ambience associated with a Koi show!

When I arrived at 3pm just 3 of the 100 or so vats contained Koi!

As I arrived so did Toshihiro Hirasawa and Tomo from Marudo pushing some Koi on trolleys.

Shortly after Ikarashi Kazuto's son arrived with a single Koi for the show!

Thereafter there was a lot of waiting around, for what I've no idea! I think there may have been a rule that the owners had to be present.

90 minutes later, as you can see with the sun all but disappeared, finally the Koi were floated on their vats before being released.

At 4.53pm this was my last picture of the day, you could count on 2 hands the number of benched Koi.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

An eye for beauty....

2008-11-13T22:54:00.002+09:00

I mentioned yesterday my persuit for a great autumn pic - A couple of feeble attempts..... - and that i'd bumped into Saito San yesterday morning before going off and harvesting his Oyagoi in the afternoon.

Saito San is a bit of a secret photographer, as he does his daily rounds he often takes his camera with him and when you pop in there is a cracking shot set as the desktop on his PC. When we climbed to the breakfast spot back in February - The Breakfast Spot Revisited - he photographed everything that moved.

When I bumped into him yesterday he was heading out, camera in hand.

Today on popping in there was a simply beautiful pic set as his desktop, a pic of the 'Gardner mud pond' before he started draining it yesterday, the exact sort of shot I've been scouring the mountains for.

Here are a couple of the pics he got yesterday morning, beautiful!

The show bandwagon rolls on....

2008-11-13T20:28:00.003+09:00

Apart from a brief lunchtime visit to Mushigame to catch up with Saito San and Gibbo (yes, he's still here!) the rest of my day has been spent in my apartment working.

Tomorrow morning I head up to Tokyo for 4 days, this coming weekend sees the last major show of the year, the 39th All Japan Rinyukai Show, another hobbyists show put on by the Zen Nihon Rinyukai Koi Club however the judges, to the best of my knowledge are all Koi professionals.

Check in tomorrow evening for some preview pics.

A couple of feeble attempts.....

2008-11-12T18:17:00.003+09:00

......to show the colours of the mountains of Yamakoshi.

Driving around it truly is a riot of colour, capturing it is rather more difficult. Whilst the eye may be caught my individual trees that glow in the sunlight they, in themselves, don't often make good pictures.

Oyagoi

2008-11-12T17:05:00.005+09:00

I was awoken at 8am this morning by my mobile phone, by the time I managed to find it it had stopped ringing, it was Kawakami San.

On looking out of the window the sky was clear and blue, as I'd wished for yesterday to complement the autumnal colours of the trees on the mountains. As such I headed out to speak to Kawakami San and then try to get some autumn shots. I've got to say I'm somewhat struggling to convey the beauty of the mountains at the moment with the pictures I've taken thus far.

Whilst in Mushigame I bumped into Saito San who asked me to go to Kawaguchi this afternoon as he was harvesting some of his oyagoi. 'Which ponds?', I asked. 'The Gardner mud ponds', he replied. You can read more about these at Sometimes the most ordinary days..... and The end....

These ponds are situated in a truly stunning location, co-incidentally they have the same outlook as The place I fell in love - revisited

The pond contained 11 of Saito San's female oyagoi - not all had been used this year.

With my desire to breed some Showa of my own next year I've spoken to Saito San on a couple of occasions about oyagoi. The one piece of advice he keeps giving me, 'don't buy expensive oyagoi, don't pay money for good pattern!' There is little chance of me buying expensive oyagoi!

Before heading out this afternoon I was working on the chapter of Nishikigoi Mondo about spawning and culling. In Mondo it also advises that amateur breeders should not use Koi that would otherwise be good show Koi for spawning, 'Amateurs should use high quality but boring-patterned Nishikigoi as oyagoi.'

Back to the ikeage, the Koi could clearly be seen gliding around the shallow, although not as shallow as Saito San had hoped or intended, water.

Saito San set about wading into the water with pan net. Despite the relatively cold water the Koi were still suitably lively! Having seen Torazo harvest his jumbo Koi this way - A great way to start the day - big girls! - it amazes me how simple they make it look to net Koi from what is still a pretty large area of water.

This years best producing female Showa parent, originally bred by Shintaro himself. You can see the pattern but it has good skin, good shiroji, beni and sumi! You can see some of her offspring here The sort of day dreams are made of....

This female will be used next year, again bred by Shintaro, now 6 years old. I'm not sure who is imitating who but not that Saito San and the Showa have rather similar facial expressions!

As I say, they were rather lively still!

An unexpected couple of hours of fun this afternoon for sure!

Getting ready for winter

2008-11-12T11:31:00.003+09:00

Anyway that's been in Yamakoshi over the last week, particularly at the show at the weekend, will be under no doubt that winter is well on it's way here.

Driving across the bridge out of Ojiya and towards the station yesterday evening show was clearly visible on the distant mountains.

Yesterday my neighbour was changing the wheels on his car to ones with winter tyres, a very common practice here.

All around ornamental trees have been afforded their winter protection.

This is the beautiful traditional house of Miyaishi.

Red sky at night....

2008-11-11T17:24:00.002+09:00

....a shepherds delight, so the saying goes.

I can tell you, tonights red sky at night was this photographer's delight!

At the moment the mountains of Yamakoshi are full of wonderful vibrant autumnal colours. Sadly to get the best pictures of them really needs a sunny day with clear blue sky. I'm hoping we get one soon.

As I sat in my apartment around 3pm working on Nishikigoi Mondo there was a break in the sky which had been cloudy and grey all day and the sun peaked through. I decided to head up to Yamakoshi to get some autumnal shots, hoping there would be some warm evening light across the mountains. Sadly there wasn't.

I popped up to Yagenji just to take a pic looking across the valley. Toshikatsu Marusada was there and despite my protestations that I was very busy and had to go they insisted I joined them for coffee. I'm now under strict instructions that I must visit Yagenji regularly so we come learn Japanese and English together.

Anyway, from there I headed back into Mushigame. From Marusada's facility there appeared to be a reasonable sunset forming.

Up at the breakfast spot the sky continued to colour up.

As I continued down Route 551 towards Izumiya it continued to do so.

As I headed out towards Ojiya on Route 291 the sky literally exploded into a riot of colour!

Within a few minutes just a slight glow was left on the horizon.

Without doubt the most amazing sunset I've experienced here in Ojiya. A photographers dream!

It was nice.....

2008-11-10T18:45:00.003+09:00

.....to meet so many Yamakoshi Year blog readers at the ZNA show this weekend, thanks to those that came up and said hello and for their kind comments.

Amongst those that did were people from Scotland, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Singapore and Malaysia.

Again, thanks!

In this morning's post...

2008-11-10T17:08:00.004+09:00

I mentioned last weekend that my entry into the Yamakoshi Photo competition had been on display at the Yamakoshi bullfight.

The nice people at the Mainichi newspaper who organised the competition kindly sent me a copy of the issue which included my picture, which arrived today.

ZNA 2008 Show - All the major winners

2008-11-10T11:35:00.009+09:00

Below are picture of the major winners from the 2008 ZNA All Japan Koi Show.

A note regarding the pictures, you are welcome to reproduce the pictures on any non commercial website as long as they are credited to Mark Gardner and a link is provided to this blog http://www.yamakoshi.blogspot.com/.

Grand Champion

Daisuke Maeda (Momotaro) and Nobuo Takigawa

Superior Champion

Mature Champion

Adult Champion

Young Champion

Baby Champion

85bu+

85bu

80bu

75bu

70bu

65bu

60bu

55bu

50bu

45bu

40bu

35bu

30bu

25bu

20bu

15bu

Kuroki Prize - awarded to a selected 'large' showa

Takigawa Prize - awarded to a selected Hikarimuji

Anabuki Prize - awarded to a selected Asagi

Kato Prize - awarded to a selected Koromo

Kamiya Prize - awarded to a selected Kawarimono with sumi

Jumbo 1 - largest Koi entered in Kohaku, Sanke, Showa and Utsurimono

ZNA 2008 Show - Grand Champion

2008-11-08T18:31:00.004+09:00

It was a chilly overcast day today at the ZNA Show, thankfully the rain held off all day, hopefully tomorrow will be the same.

At 9am the judges assembled on the steps of the gymnasium for a photo call before getting down to business.

Unsurprisingly the 106cm Sanke from Momotaro attracted a lot of attention from the judges, as was the case last year! It really was a case of deja vu!

The admin team totting up the votes from the first ballot.

The big sanke was in the top 3, here being moved to the vats for the second round of voting.

These were the other 2 contenders. The first Kohaku is a Koi that I rather fancied last year. I've also seen it at several other shows. Yesterday I'd considered it an outside chance. Whilst discussing it with Shinoda San and Hideo I learned it's actually a male Koi!

I have to confess to not even noticing this Koi in the vats yesterday!

At around 10am my earlier hunch that the Sanke would him proved true as it was anounced Grand Champion of the 2008 ZNA All Japan Show.

It must be time for a Koi show!

2008-11-07T19:49:00.004+09:00

Today is the first day of the ZNA All Japan Show, benching day.

Surprise, surprise, the beautiful weather of the last few days has disappeared and replaced with rain. Thankfully late afternoon, which coincided with our visit to the show, it cleared up.

It was starting to get a little dark by that time so not so easy to evaluate the entries.

I've a hunch that the 106cm Momotaro Sanke which was also at last years show may well take top honours this year.

NVN Koi Trekkers 2008 - Oh what a beautiful morning

2008-11-06T20:09:00.005+09:00

Having taken their first day's breakfast at the hotel, today the Koi Trekkers elected for breakfast from 7-11. With the sun shining on a beautiful autumnal morning where else to head first but the 'breakfast spot'?!?

It looked somewhat different on last 28th January! The next 28th January is less than 12 weeks away!

From there it was off to visit a whole host of breeders including Yagenji, Ikarashi Kazuto, Shintaro, Yamamatsu, Izumiya and Yamazaki.

Another full day for our guests from Holland! Maybe in return they've brought Ojiya some good weather for this weekend's ZNA Koi Show.

NVN Koi Trekkers 2008 meet Masao Kato

2008-11-06T01:09:00.003+09:00

This was the site of this morning's first activity. A Dainichi mud pond containing the best Koi of Masao Kato, the recently retired Chairman of the ZNA and undoubtedly the most famous hobbyist in Japan. When invited to attend no one would decline, that's for sure! The weather was magical, and it was a magical way to kick off the day!

Hiroi Seiji sprinkling sake around the point from which Koi will be removed from the pond.

Having done so everyones cup is filled with the rest of the bottle, for those that don't know who Kato San is he is wearing the cap in the picture below.

The harvest was attended by many famous breeders including Shigeru Mano, Torazo, Matsunosuke, Hiroi Seiji, Shintaroand and Marusada. Given the signal the helpers wade into the water pick the Koi out of the drained mudpond by hand and carry them up a set of concrete steps to the waiting truck.

Torazo lifting some Koi on into the tanks on the back of the truck under the watchful eye of Kato San who had the best seat in the house!

Kato San reqacquanting himself with some of his big girls. Some will go to this weekends ZNA Show, others will go immediately back to his facility near Tokyo.

Back at their temporary house the Koi are all measured and photographed.

Kato San is the epitomy of Koi Kichi, his love for the hobby is still, despite his increasing age, clearly unabated. It's always a pleasure to meet him and I know that I speak for all NVN members that were there that they were honoured to meet him.

Having left Kato San's temporary greenhouse facility it was off for lunch, hegi soba, a traditional Niigata dish. Basically hegi soba are buckwheat noodles flavoured with seaweed. They are served chilled and placed in a soy type sauce with spring onions and wasabi paste before being eaten. I have to admit when I first had it I was somewhat unsure that I could say I liked it, now I find it rather tasty. Lets just say that it didn't go down so well with our NVN guests, a pit stop at McD's was made afterwards for a 2nd lunch stop!

Thereafter visits were made to Marudo, Hoshikin Dainichi, Miyaishi and Torazo.

It's now 7.30am and I'm about to pick them up again. They all said yesterday was a great day, can we match it again today? Time will tell!

NVN Koi Trekkers 2008 find instant fame in Yamakoshi!

2008-11-05T01:07:00.004+09:00

At 11.56am on 4th November Yoshi and Hiroshi from INPC (www.japan-nishikigoi.org) pulled into Nagaoka station with a party of 14 NVN members (www.nvn-koi.nl).

Yesterday afternoon Shigeo Tanaka had asked me whether I could visit Maruju Koi Farm today as a TV crew were coming and he wanted me to be interviewed. When 14 NVN members arrived on mass I think the TV guys thought all their Christmases had come at once!

Having spent some time in their various Koi houses it was down to Mos Burger in Ojiya who I think took their single biggest order in any day ever. Unlike McDonalds there aren't a whole rack of burgers waiting to be purchased, everthing is cooked fresh.

From there it was the obligatory visit to Nishikigoi no Sato and Sun Plaza.

This evening they took dinner with Isa San, Tanaka San, Kawakami San and Mano San.

There is a whole lot for them to pack into the next few days!

Photo competition

2008-11-05T00:37:00.005+09:00

A while back I posted about my search for a pic to enter in the Yamakoshi photo competition - The search continued.....

That pic was one of half a dozen that I submitted to the competition.

Last week the postman deliverered the following letter....
Of course it meant little to me, I could however read 'omedetou gozaimasu' - which means congratulations.

Some time back I was contacted and asked whether I'd found a way of scanning Japanese text and translating it to English. I hadn't even considered it to be honest but set about researching what was available. I remembered when I purchased my first desktop scanner - probably over 10 years ago now - it came with some OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software. I figured that was step one, finding something that understood Japanese characters.

Of course, it's readily available in Japan, the problem was that the software had a Japanese interface.

I found a product called Read IRIS Pro which was able to scan and convert Japanese text, but had an English interface. Whilst back in the UK I ordered a copy. There are a number of translation options, including Google etc, where you can paste the scanned Japanese text into them and get it translated.

Anyway, this letter was the first time that I've used it for a practical purpose.

In itself it works fine at doing what it does - i.e. scanning and converting text. Google did a half reasonable job of translating the text in that I new it said I'd won a prize, it wasn't clear what picture had won, nor what the prize was.

I sent the scanned letter to my INPC colleagues and also hot footed it to Yamakoshi to visit Shintaro, keen to find out what the letter said exactly.

It turned out that the pic had been selected in the top 20, my prize was 2 rolls of camera film, sadly not the 100,000 Yen first prize!

On Monday (a holiday in Japan) the winning photos were displayed at the last bullfight of the year taking place at the Yamakoshi bull ring.

I collared Gibbo into attending, just to take my picture with my picture!

No more fighting...

2008-11-02T20:03:00.003+09:00

Today was the end of the Ojiya bullfight league, Shinoda being crowned 'champion'.

There are a whole load of action pics that I have, unfortunately not time to post them now.

I'll leave you with this one, these guys clearly knew the season was over

Not exacty going head to head!

What a great way to end the year......

2008-11-02T19:17:00.003+09:00

....and I guess that many Koi people around the world will be ending it the same way!

I've just changed my '2008 Splendid Koi Calendar' to the last page, November and December. On it one of my favourite Koi of all time, at least with regards to those I've seen in the flesh, the 2007 All Japan Koi Show Grand Champion, a Koi I first fell in love with in 2006 at the All Japan Show when it took a Kokugyo prize.

I love this Koi from several different angles.

Firstly the most obvious one, the fact that it is, in my opinion, an absolutely beautiful example of my favourite variety, Showa.

Secondly, I love the story behind it, I think it's one that is inspirational to all Koi keepers, dealers and breeders. Sold as a 'cheap' nisai for a grow and show competition. Rejected by all entrants. Sold half price after the competition. Later an All Japan Grand Champion!

Finally, and perhaps most unlikely by a country mile, one day I'd love to produce something like her!

Her glory days are now over as far as being a show Koi, she's now a working Koi, an Oyagoi back at Dainichi Koi Farm. No longer does she lead the pampered existence that she had in the hands of Narita. Maybe one day her 'children' will go onto achieve her accolades.

The laundry....

2008-11-02T17:56:00.002+09:00

Those with long memories may recall my previous mentions of The laundry.

For the first few months of the year I sufficed with washing clothes by hand in the bath. Through the summer months friends kindly offered to do my laundry for me. During long hot summer days it was easy drop it in the washing machine, hang it out and it was dry within hours. Sadly the same is not the case now the days are shorter and less conducive to drying clothes.

Given my now extended stay I decided a more effective laundry solution was required - I decided to buy a washing machine - I'd been told a small one would only cost 20,000 Yen.

My first visit to K-Sudenki left me none the wiser, nothing looked much like an English washing machine, no Hotpoint, Hoover, Bosch or Zanussi! And none were 20,000 Yen. I collected a few brochures and figured my best bet was to consult Hiromi San.

Yesterday lunchtime I headed for Mushigame to pick Hiromi San's brain! She was out! Then Gibbo arrived. Then Saito San suggested we all visit the electrical store and get lunch at the same time. Thankfully there were other things in Yamada Denki, the store we visited, to occupy Steve, I don't think shopping for washing machines was what he had in mind for the afternoon.

I was still none the wiser wandering around the washing machine section, Saito San said, 'I'll call Hiromi.' After a brief chat he said, 'I've just remembered we have an old one at the Shintaro House, we'll check if it works then you can have that.'

So, having browsed the rather more interesting camera, video, TV and PC sections of the store we pit stopped at a ramen shop for lunch and headed back to Mushigame where Saito San uncovered a family size Mitsubishi washing machine at the back of the garage.

It was plugged in and all appeared in working order, Saito San ran through the controls on the top which are of course all in Japanese. Seemed simple enough. At this point Gibbo had got his cameras out and was making comments about the blind leading the blind!

Having returned from Hideo's harvest this morning - Sunday's should be for laying in....... - I set about hooking it up to the water points already in position to take a washing machine. Unfortunately it was never intended that someone living in my tiny apartment would have a family sized washing machine, as such the waste outlet was more appropriately placed for a mini washing machine. A quick visit to the local DIY store yielded 4 small concrete blocks on which to raise the machine above the outlet point and everything was ready to roll.

A quick test run confirmed everything worked OK and as per Saito San's instructions.

One thing puzzled me, there was no setting for the water temperature.

After the bullfight I headed over to Mushigame to thank Hiromi San and also to find out how to set the temperature.

It transpired that laundry is done completely differently in Japan. Connected to the machine is another hose which Saito San had said I wouldn't need. For a hot wash with this type of machine, what the Japanese will do is utilise used bath water for the washing, syphoning it into the washing machine. Of course, there is a big difference in the way westerners bath to the way Japanese bath. Japanese bathing is about relaxing, not washing, they wash before getting in the bath so the bath water remains clean.

This evening I have succesfully completed my first cold wash, maybe I'll start to adopt the Japanese style of bathing in order to do a hot wash next time!

Should any visitors to Ojiya require a reasonably priced laundry service please be sure to get in touch. I'm sorry, washing only, no ironing!

Sunday's should be for laying in.......

2008-11-02T09:50:00.006+09:00

Since getting my TV sorted back in September - For the first time this year...... - my Saturday and Sunday routines have been fairly set, stay up into the early hours of Sunday watching football and then lay in on Sunday morning. Not this weekend, today my alarm was set for the ungodly hour of 6am!

Earlier in the week I'd received a call from Hideo Hirasawa telling me he'd be harvesting some of his Koi the next morning, at 6am! That same day The weather!! really turned for the worst and just a few hours after making arrangements for the ikeage Hideo phoned again to cancel them.

Hideo called again yesterday afternoon to tell me he'd be carrying out the harvest today. As today was his day off from work at Isa Koi Farm I'd assumed a slightly later time for the harvest, at least slightly later than 7am! Today also sees the last bullfight of the season in Koguriyama hence the harvest needed to be done early.

With the sun barely above the horizon, and a clear sky all night, it was positively cold this morning!

You can read more about the Koi Hideo produces at - Sundays. Today, it transpired, would be a harvest of sansai.

The pond was quickly netted by Hideo and his father.

Beautiful sumi!!!!

In no time at all the bowl of harvested Koi are lifted onto the truck. Several Koi that Hideo wanted to keep were slipped back into the mud pond for now. As the nisai in his small Koi house next to the pond are sold and more room available they'll be harvested again.

Checking the pecs to see whether it's male or female.

A selection of nisai that are available for sale.

Number 1 sansai Doitsu Kohaku - I was suitably surprised!

Number 1 sansai Doitsu Sanke - again I was suitably surprised and impressed!

Interestingly Hideo's uncle, who has Hirashin Koi Farm just down the road from Hideo's house, won 2 prizes at the tosai show - The 1st Shinsaku Kanshokai - in September for Doitsu Kohaku. Hideo tells me that his uncle is actually now using oyagoi produced by Hideo having lost his own parents a couple of years ago.

Whilst talking to Hideo before the Nogyosai I asked why he didn't take his own Koi to the shows. He advised that it was because of his job with Isa, when he is at the shows it's part of his job.

We also visited Hideo's tosai ponds today, some under the family home and others adjacent to the old family home which still stands albeit it uninhabitable since the earthquake. One tank in the fish house contained his 10 best tosai, amongst them a stunning little Maruten Kohaku which would surely have fared well at any show!

Well worth the early morning alarm call!

I want that one, no that one, no........

2008-11-01T19:26:00.002+09:00

It was on my first trip to Japan back in November 2001 that I first entered a breeders tosai facility, then at Sakuma Koi Farm.

To see the tosai circling like a school of barracuda hunting for food was a mesmerising sight for sure. Since then I've visited many tosai houses and I still find it a wonderful spectacle.

Quite often on leaving Shintaro's I'll pop out the back to the tosai house to have a peak and see how they are doing, I feel a particular affinity with these tosai having spent such wonderful and fascinating hours working with them over the summer.

As soon as you arrive at the door of the greenhouse the Koi start circling, when the food goes in it's an absolute feeding frenzy as they literally climb over one another to try and get some food.

Trying to spot individual Koi is almost impossible, I've stood there with a picture of my tosai in hand but am damned if I can see it!

You can download a video which shows what I mean at http://www.nishikigoi.tv/harvests.html

Nagaoka Koi Show - freeview video available for download

2008-10-31T17:22:00.003+09:00

For me the last couple of days have involved a whole lot of deskwork, lots to catch up on and, with a party of 14 members of the NVN arriving on Tuesday lunchtime to be shown around by the INPC (http://www.japan-nishikigoi.org/) next week will be suitably filled with Nishikigoi!

Anyway, one of the outcomes of me being tied to the computers is that you can now download a short video showing some of the Koi exhibited at the Nagaoka Koi Show on the 19th October.

To download the free video simply visit http://www.nishikigoi.tv/harvests.html

A full video report of the show coming for subscribers tomorrow.

Marudo Nisai Go-Sanke video

2008-10-30T20:40:00.003+09:00

The other day I boldly stated that Marudo was Maybe, just maybe, now Niigata's best breeder?

You can now download a video of the Koi to see what got that group of hobbyists and dealers queueing to buy!

To download the video simply visit http://www.nishikigoi.tv/harvests.html and select the 'Marudo High Class Nisai Go-Sanke' link.

From the same page you can download videos of:

- Torazo Nisai
- Isa Sansai
- Shintaro Nisai
- Maruju Tategoi Nisai Budo Goromo
- Torazo Jumbo Koi

The first sign of snow....

2008-10-30T18:56:00.003+09:00

....admittedly not here in Yamakoshi!

This afternoon myself, Gibbo and Saito San travelled out to Minimauonuma, anyone that's visited before will recognise our destination as being Sekiguchi Koi Farm.

The Sekiguchi family are some of the friendliest people you could meet, unfortunately it's not somewhere I get to visit as often as I'd like. Having spoken to the brothers Masayuki and Takamitsu at the Nogyosai Show where they took best in sizes 30cm and 20cm, I was keen to visit and see the rest of their stocks, Gibbo wanted to make his first visit, and Saito San proved a reliable chauffeur.

Some cracking Showa on display as ever, including one that I fell in love with last October when I visited with an INPC hobbyist party. Bigger and better than last year a really lovely Showa. I suspect I'll be back there again next week and will try to get a picture of it.

In a few weeks time this area will be a full blown ski resort. Driving along the expressway from Ojiya to Yuzawa the highest peaks had their first layer of snow on them, you can just make it out behind the greenhouses. You can see what the scene looked like in April here - Great Day - Part 1 - Showa Heaven!

There is no doubt, winter is well and truly on it's way!

The peacock fish....

2008-10-30T00:53:00.004+09:00

I guess it's around 20 years ago that the Koi Varieties book was published that depicted all the winners of the All Japan Show, I recall a 3 step Kohaku being Grand Champion?

Anyway, in that same book, I recall some pictures of Kujaku, they literally leapt from the page!

Whilst I've no doubt about the 'accuracy' of those pictures there is something about Kujaku, isn't there, especially from a photographers perspective.

Stunning detail in the creation of the variety.

Download a video of the above Koi here http://www.nishikigoi.tv/kujaku.html

Torazo Jumbo Koi Video

2008-10-29T21:21:00.003+09:00

As mentioned, The weather!! has been pretty shocking. As such I've been busy catching up with various bits and bobs.

NTV subscribers can now download video of most of the major winners at the Nogyosai - Niigata Nogyosai - Part 6 - The winners roll.

The Torazo Jumbo Harvest - A great way to start the day - big girls! and Into the afternoon - still big girls - certainly seemed to create some interest on the blog, visitors coming from all corners of the globe.

A freeview video showing some of the jumbo Koi harvested can now be downloaded.

The video perhaps doesn't portray the size of these Koi, keep an eye out for this Kohaku, it has a small window in the hi, just in front of the dorsal fin, that should help understanding of how large they are!

To view the video, and other harvest videos, visit http://www.nishikigoi.tv/harvests.html

The weather!!

2008-10-29T19:14:00.002+09:00

The weekend of the 18th and 19th saw glorious temperatures, the Nagaoka Koi Show was simply baking weather. Thereafter last week ikeage were carried out with clear blue skies and bright sunshine.

With the arrival of the Nogyosai this weekend that all changed, it starting raining.

The last 2 days have seen it deteriorate rapidly.

Yesterday afternoon at 3.30pm, after the unveiling of the bullfight memorial - All became clear... - I was sat in the Shintaro house when the heavens truly opened, it was like a tropical downpour, just as Kensuke and Kosuke were walking home from school - they were drenched. There was a very beautiful rainbow however, when the clouds started to break. Sadly no camera!

Today it has been truly miserable, coupled with the rain it is positively cold! Most of the day has been spent in my apartment working. This afternoon for a break up and cup of coffee I popped up to Shintaro. I have to say I was delighted that Hiromi San had put the table blankets on! For those that haven't seen them I'll explain. In most houses, certainly in rural Yamakoshi, people still sit on the floor on cushions around tables. In the winter the floor will have heated rugs on the tatami and, going beneath the tops of the tables, are padded quilts which drape to the floor. Basically you sit with your feet under the table to keep them warm!

Apparently the rain at least is with us into the middle of next week!

All became clear...

2008-10-28T17:47:00.003+09:00

It seems a very long while ago that I posted - Time will tell......

Well whatever it was has been largely finished for a couple of weeks now, in fact I expected it to be unveiled on 23rd October - Never forget 23/10/2004

However, it was not until 2pm today that the official unveiling ceremony took place.

The presence of a fighting bull....

....and Senichi Mano amongst the dignitaries probably gives a bit of a clue?

The 'monument' is the Bull Fighting groups memorial to the Chuetsu Earthquake, as best I understood Mano San's explanation and the speeches of the various dignitaries present, including the Mayor of Ojiya.

There are 4 'panels' in the concrete wall.

The first a map showing the overall area.

The second a slightly more detailed map.

Go to the right to visit a whole variety of points of interest, both in Ojiya and Yamakoshi.

Also to the right are 4 bull fighting arenas, on the left is the calendar for the fights. Just 2 remain this year on 2nd November in Ojiya and on 3rd November in Yamakoshi.

Niigata Nogyosai - some facts and figures

2008-10-27T19:36:00.002+09:00

By the time the Niigata Nogyosai opens at 8am on Sunday morning a booklet is available, largely billingual in Japanese and English, detailing all of the entrants and results of the show, including who has entered what Koi in what size and what class, 20 pages of so of data.

The chart below - click to enlarge - details numbers of Koi in size and variety.

A total of 560 Koi across 11 varieties and 15 size classes.