First Trip to Japan

[koibooi]

Day 1 – 13 October 2007

Left Cape Town and arrived safely in Singapore on my first leg to the Koi promise land. We landed at 05h30 in the morning and it was already 26 degrees Celsius outside. If this weather is a taste of what is going to come throughout this trip then I am definitely not going to have a use for my brand new K-Way fleece top that set me back so much at Cape Union Mart.

Singapore airport is huge. Think about JHB airport stretching from international all the way through to domestic and then you have only walked one of the passages at Singapore airport. The shops number more than Tygervalley, N1 City and Century City combined, and this is just an airport. Everything is being charged in US dollars so the ZAR does not go very far over here. On average I would say that goods seem more expensive here than on London Heathrow or that dreaded Washington Dulles International airport. Maybe they are trying to catch all the international tourists en-route.

I hit the start button on the laptop, wondering if I was going to have to plug in my 3G card with international roaming. I’m dreading the costs already but fear not – immediately I receive an option of three wireless networks to choose from. I select the one with the strongest signal (93% as opposed to the next one of 86%) and I sync, get an IP address and have 11.0 Mbps at my disposal – for free – for gratis – for nothing, not a cent I have to pay for connectivity. Dream on Telkom…..

I have an 11 hour layover in Singapore so my decision is to head off into town or stay put. I find out that the airport is about 20 – 30 minutes from town. I also find out that today it is a public holiday over here so the shops only start opening around 11am. The airport lounge couch now looks a lot more inviting than 15 minutes ago so I decide to catch up on some sleep. In February this year I used my hard earned Voyager miles to secure these plane tickets and spoilt myself by getting business class tickets. The business class seats on Singapore air were however not as nice as the SAA business class lie flat beds. They go almost flat but stay at about a 30 degree angle so you keep on sliding off towards the floor.

There are two Koi ponds in the airport. They are fairly big in terms of surface area with lots of plants around them but they are only about 60 cm deep. The quality of the koi in them are not very good but I would not have expected show quality koi in such a public setting. There is a board at each pond indicating the two feeding times a day. The public that are around the pond at that time then receive some koi food to throw into the water and participate in the feeding.

The Singapore air business class lounge is also massive and I take a shower after arrival and use some of the cologne standing on the shelf. I will have another shower and a shave and put on a clean shirt and ….. tonight before I catch the flight to Fukuoka. My flight leaves at 30 minutes past midnight which is 6 hours ahead of SA time.

On the flight over from Cape Town I sat next to Mike Horn. He is the well known South African adventurer that travels the world doing crazy stuff like walking the South Pole, climbing the highest mountains without oxygen and swimming the entire length of the Amazon river. His photos are absolutely amazing. Have a look at www.mikehorn.com. He now lives in Switzerland with his wife and two daughters. He was in SA visiting his mother that lives in Stellenbosch and is busy planning his next major adventure which is a four year trip walking across almost every continent and sailing where he can not walk. An amazing man that creates reality about things us mere mortals don’t even dream of. Visit his page and post him a note and I am sure he will appreciate some SA support.

This is Koibooi on the move. e-speak to you soon.

[koibooi]

Day 2 – 14 October 2007

Just before catching my 0h30 am flight out of Singapore, I decided to stop off at the 24 hour airport pub and have a Singapore Sling. Well I did have a Wiener Snitsel when I was in Vienna earlier this year so why not a Singapore sling while in Singapore. I remembered how expensive things were at this airport so stopping off at the Thomas Cook office to change a travelers cheques brought a great surprise when I received Singapore dollars not USD. Suddenly the penny dropped as I realized that all the airport prices were in Singapore dollars with is 1.5 to the USD. Suddenly a whole new world of shopping opened up as prices dropped by 32%. Unfortunately I had a flight to catch so airport shopping will have to wait until my return journey.

It must have been the excitement of finally arriving in Koi heaven that caused the sleep to leave me during the 5 hour flight to Fukuoka in Japan. My in-flight movie tally went up to six as I managed to squeeze in another two and a bit movies. I probably looked like a real criminal when I stepped off that plane as the Japanese customs was on me as soon as I collected my luggage. I think it must have been the suspicious looking plastic wrapped rucksack that drew their attention but what else can one do to keep the keen SA Airport Company baggage handlers away from the contents of your case. I was questioned, I was searched, my bags were unpacked and even my toiletries were inspected before I could set foot on Japanese soil.

Walking through customs and out into the street was like arriving on another planet and I realized that I was in deep stinky stuff. There was not a single sign or name or letter or number that I could read or understand. Fortunately the Japanese nation is extremely helpful and will go to great lengths to try and help. Unfortunately the use of the English language seems to be something that very few have actually mastered. After having bought a bus ticket for Hakata and unsuccessfully trying to get onto the train with it, I managed to meet up with a Koi colleague. My gear was stowed at the Green Hotel, we bought lunch and we set off on the bullet train to the first Koi farm.

It was amazing flying through the countryside at 250 – 300 km an hour in a train with almost no noise, sitting and eating a huge container of sushi bought at a supermarket for R50.00 and sipping on the bottle of cold green tea from a vending machine. The nori was the best and softest I have ever tasted and I am definitively going to get my fill of Japanese foods while here.

We met up with the chief editor of Rinko magazine. The Rinko magazine is a very successful monthly Koi publication about the size of Getaway magazine but packed with all things Koi. The paper based subscription is only in Japanese but I understand that us westerlings can subscribe to a bi weekly electronic edition that is translated into English.

We only visited one dealer down south from Hakata but we spent about 4 hours there, looking, bowling some excellent Kohaku and Showa species and afterwards sitting and drinking green tea and speaking in broken English to the dealer for about another hour. We discussed everything from the number of fry in the mud pond to the parasites that he was treating for. The prices were incredibly low and one could pick up a 60+ cm two year old fish for 15000 yen (R1000.00). Unfortunately he is only harvesting in a week’s time so the koi for sale were not of the show quality that I was looking for. There were some smaller Kohaku that was really brilliant but as this was the first farm, I was not going to jump in and buy immediately.

While at the breeder we were introduced to one of the breeder’s regular customers and he said he will take us to his home pond. This was really exciting as I not only met a breeder but also a hobbyist like me. This was however a really koi mad hobbyist as we stopped next to a huge mud pond on the way to his house. The mud pond was built above some rice paddies and his explanation was that the water from the pond is captured from the rain in the mountains. The water is used to grow the rice in the fields below. He then rented the pond to keep some of his excess fish in. Imagine that – renting a mud pond for your own koi. Something us South Africans will never be able to do.

The hobbyists pond was indoors in a beautiful Japanese style house. It was about a 20 000 liter pond and was absolutely brimming with approximately 50 big fish. Honestly, there was not a koi under 60cm in his pond. The filtration was absolutely basic with a big concrete container with filter media. Asking about his secret on keeping so many fish in such a small pond he replied – “turnover”. He has a huge pump and it circulates his whole pond about every 10 minutes.

Checking into the hotel I arrived at my incredibly small room but that is another story. Koibooi is tired and will catch up again tomorrow.

[koibooi]

Day 3 – 15 October 2007

The hotel room was so small I could not swing a tosai Kohaku in it. The hotel room was so small I had to step out of the bathroom to dry my back after the shower. The hotel room was so small I had to step outside to change my mind. The list goes on … all I can say is that I have now experienced one of those small hotel rooms. You could not put two three quarter beds next to each other. I am tall and when my feet hung over the end of the bed they touched the wall. My pond at home is bigger than the hotel room. Enough said.

Kobooi decided to take the day out of koi watching and took the Shinkokan to Hiroshima. I can equate this trip to my visit to the Vietnam wall of remembrance in Washington or the Arlington National Cemetery. On 6 August 1945 a nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The letters that state the reason for the Allied Forces to drop the bomb and how they decided on Hiroshima as the first target are up in the museum for all to see. I must say that I could not understand any of those reasons that caused the suffering and death of 90 000 – 140 000 people. It was a sad day for me today and a day of introspection. It was a day to think about my past, think about my life and my family, my wonderful wife and my blessed son and dream of our future. Make new dedications on building up what is important to me just like the Japanese have built up a massive economy following such a huge disaster. If ever you need a kick in the butt or need a reality check, go to www.wikipedia.com and search for Hiroshima. Follow the many other internet links and get to know a bit more about what our fathers and grandfathers have done and pray to who ever you believe in that you or your children or your grandchildren never have to make these kind of decisions.

On the train to Kakegawa, I eventually fell asleep only to be rudely awoken by a mumbling Japanese man in a uniform. I jumped up and bumped my head on the overhead compartment only to realize that it was the train conductor and he wanted to see my ticket. It was a good thing he asked for the ticket as a few stops later we climbed off and was met by a smiling Tekeda San. He is the president of Yamatake Fish Farm and did not speak a bad English. By this time one’s ear gets used to the Japanese pronunciations. His name is actually Mr. Katshushi Takeda but out of respect and honor, you address him by the surname and add the word “San” to make Tekeda San. (I hope there is no Japanese literary out on the web that reads my crude interpretations). He took us to the hotel to check in and then to his favorite restaurant. It was a small place close to his house and we were entertained in traditional Japanese style – sitting on the floor and being served dish after dish of exquisite food and drinking Japanese beer and Saki.

Back at the hotel I have a much bigger room and an upgraded bathroom cubicle – the toilet has a heated seat. Something else I also discovered in Japan – the internet connection in the room is for free but you have to pay for the television. In both hotels I stayed so far there were only 4 TV Japanese channels and if you want to watch anything else, you have to pay for it. I think I will watch You Tube until I am back in SA.

Tomorrow is going to start off with a visit to Yamatake koi farm. I have been promised fresh Eel for lunch and after lunch we are heading out to some more koi farms.

This is Koibooi on the move. E-speak to you soon.

[koibooi]

Day 4 – 16 October 2007

After a very interesting breakfast this morning of fermented Soya beans and rice with mizo soup and tofu we were collected by Takeda San for the visit to Yamatake koi farm. En route we stopped at a bank to change some traveler cheques for Yen as the bit of cash I brought from SA was running out. I witnessed the Japanese financial engine in working and it was a slow and painful experience. After the initial gestures and handing over the travelers cheques and my passport the waiting started. I am pretty sure that they had a Yen printing press at the back of the bank as it took forever to produce the cash. I could in no way understand what they were saying to me but it sounded pretty cool and as they were in possession of my passport, I guessed it better not to make too much of a fuss.

The Koi house is typically the place that holds the concrete ponds and the administration facilities. It is here that koi are brought to when they are harvested from the mud ponds and it is here that the koi are typically on display for purchase. I am constantly surprised how humble these breeders are and how incredibly low tech but extremely effective their operation is. The water in the 80 ton concrete ponds is crystal clear and the filtration is extremely low tech with only a few up and under compartments running through Japanese matting. The ponds are also typically stocked to the maximum with a decent feeding rate.

The quality of the koi is absolutely amazing. I saw a 4 year old Kohaku that will beat the fins off most koi in SA. The price was about R35K and way above my budget so I moved on the pond with the 2 year old fish. The breeder gladly caught any fish I would like to have a closer look at. This was a lot more affordable and one could buy a brilliant 2 year old 65 cm Shusui for +-R2900 directly from the breeder. Add to this another 10% in agents fees and some transport to get the koi back to South Africa and you will end up with a 65cm beautiful show quality koi with excellent growth potential from a well known breeder and a known lineage for under R4500. I am increasingly starting to get the idea that perhaps we are paying way too much for show quality fish in South Africa.

After our koi viewing the breeder made good on his promise from the previous day and we went for lunch at a local Eel restaurant. The live Eels are kept in a tank like we keep Crayfish in SA. The Eel is caught and placed on a table. A two pronged fork is then stuck into its head and using a very sharp knife, the chef splits the Eel from head to tail and cleans the inside. Once clean, the Eel is cut into pieces of approximately 15cm in length and then skewered so that it does not curl up during cooking. The skewered Eel is then fried and some secret sauces added and served on a bed of sticky rice. The end product was an absolutely amazingly tender and tasty dish. On a side dish was a big piece of tofu covered with what I thought was thinly grated white radish. On closer inspection I noticed that every piece of grated radish had eyes. It turned out to be 1.5cm long sardine babies, served raw on top of the tofu. It made for an amazing combination of tastes. Throughout all the eating experiences to date I have had a surprisingly steady stomach. It seems as if I am not going to need those diarrhea tablets I packed in.

We caught the Shinkokan to our next destination – Tokyo. Arriving at the station we were met with thousands and thousands of people streaming in all directions. The amazing thing was the cleanliness of the place and of course the number of food halls. I am very positive that you can live your entire life in Japan without once using an oven or stove. The food is inexpensive and the variety is just absolutely staggering. I looked around this amazingly busy hub and could not find a single piece of garbage lying around anywhere. Not even a cigarette butt. These are incredibly conscientious people and when somebody accidentally drops a piece of paper, then the next person picks it up and places it in the dustbin.

Our stop in Tokyo was merely in transit to our next destination and a short while later we caught the train to Nagaoka and the Nigata koi region. This is the original home of koi and the first ever records of colored carp come from here. Originally the rice farmers flooded their rice paddies in the summer time and released many carp into the rice paddy. These carp would grow and be harvested when the rice is harvested. The carp and rice would then sustain the farmer and his family through the cold harsh winters. Over time some farmers noticed colored “mutations” on the carp and these were retain by the farmers inside their house during winter time and then released in the rice paddy again the next year. So started the history of koi.

Koibooi is going to bed now as I have an exciting day ahead tomorrow

[koibooi]

Day 5 – 17 October 2007

I woke up in the middle of the night because the earth was moving. At first I though it must be the Saki from the previous evening until I remembered that I did not have any. Then I thought that all the green tee is making me feel things and closed my eyes again to go back to sleep. Unfortunately the feeling did not go away. I sat up in bed and there was a slight rattle in the room. The kettle was vibrating and the keys on the desk had some kind of magical hand that was slowly sliding them across the table. I jumped out of bed and realized that I am having the second earthquake experience of my life.

I have never ever dressed so quickly. Grabbing my few belongings, I stuffed everything into the rucksack and bounded down the stairs ending up in the street 7 floors below still barefoot. A few locals that were out late at night looked at me with a smile and one old man muttered – “not very big” and kept on walking. The sleep eluded me as I lay in bed waiting for the after shocks. At breakfast I asked the waiter if there was any news of the earthquake in the papers and with a smile and some broken English he said – “only report on 4 and bigger. Last night was nothing”.

After breakfast we were collected by Mr. Tamikazu who was going to be our koi guide, export agent, interpreter and web designer. Well that is what his card said. He owns a company called Nishikigoi Niigata Direct - http://www.koi-breeders.jp/. Our first stop was a mud pond harvest which was a fantastic experience. It was amazing to see Oomo San, a world know koi breeder, haul out fifty amazing quality go-sanke koi from a dam the size of a tennis court. A soft net is used to drag the dam so that the fish is not damaged in any way. Each fish is checked and classified and placed in a transport tank and then taken to the dealers display ponds to prepare them for sale.

After the pond harvest we visited four dealers. The koi were all of amazing quality and ranged from one year old to four year old. The biggest and best fish I saw today was an amazing Sanke of about 75cm and selling for a cool Yen 600k or R37k. This excludes agent commission and transport to SA which will probably add another R20k to the price. Photos and some good memories were all I took away from that pond. After a great day of seeing some fantastic koi, Mr. Tamikazu dropped us off at the hotel with a promise of taking us to four more farms in the morning.

Supper consisted of a big bowl of noodles, drowned in some kind of thin sauce and covered with slices of pork. The usual chopsticks were provided as well as a spoon. I was not sure what the spoon was for until I finished my meal and called the waitress to take the bowl away. It must have been her fairly high pitched load voice yelling at me in a language that I clearly had no concept of as well as the looks from all the other restaurant goers that guided me to using the spoon to eat/drink my “soup” that the noodles lay in. Now I know – eat the noodles as well as the soup.

After I caught up with what was happening back in SA, speaking to my son and gorgeous wife back home, I decided to get an early night in. My biggest challenge now is to try and find a place where I can watch rugby this coming Sunday at 4am.

This is Koibooi on the move looking for a rugby venue in a country without English channels on their television and a pub that will open at 4am.

[koibooi]

Day 6 – 18 October 2007

Last night I slept fully dressed with my sandals on just in case there was an aftershock following the earthquake from yesterday. I did not want to face humiliation again by ending up outside without any footwear. It was like packing your umbrella and then it never rains as the aftershock never came.

Koibooi have become somewhat of a celebrity in Japan under the koi breeders as my photo, together with three prize winning koi from the Western Cape show, is published in the latest Japanese edition of Rinko magazine. In Japan there are very few people that have ever won a Supreme Grand Champion trophy and to take the Supreme Grand Champion trophy as well as the Reserve Champion trophy is unheard of. Everywhere I go our guide introduces me as “Johan San” and then show the breeders the magazine.

Deciding to skip breakfast in favor of an extra bit of shut eye seemed to be a good idea as today turned out to be a koi admirers tour rather than a koi buying tour. Our koi guide, export agent, interpreter and web designer collected us this morning at 08h30 and took us to all the top names in the koi breeding business. Torazo, Dainichi, Shinodah, Hiroi and a few others. The quality of the fish was amazing but the 3 to 4 year old koi were out of my budget range so my focus was on the smaller fish that I could grow on.

Stopping by a koi supply shop on the way back to hotel made me realize how small the Japanese people really are. At the shop entrance there was a place to leave your shoes. There is also a box full of slippers that you have to wear in the shop – taking your shoes off have become second nature by now so I duly complied but, like usual, could not find any slipper to fit my South African size 12 feet. I decided to walk barefoot but as I walked into the store, I was accosted by three shop assistants, shouting all kind of unknowns in Japanese and constantly pointing at my feet and at the box full of slippers. I walked back to the box and took out a hand full of slippers, patiently trying all of them on while under the gaze of the three shop assistants. Naturally none would fit so thinking that I proved my point, I started walking back into the shop again. Not to be out-done, the one shop assistant selected two slippers and placed them in front of me. Deciding that I was not going to win this argument, I put the slippers on and they only reached half way to my heel. Satisfied, the three assistants turned around and I was allowed to wonder the shop and look around.

We returned to the hotel a bit earlier today as there I had to catch up with some washing and pack and prepare for hitting the rail again tomorrow to our next koi destination. Talking about clean, Koibooi quickly had to learn that you are expected to wash your hands before you eat, it does not matter if you buy a takeaway at the local convenience store or sit down for a meal at the hotel breakfast table. A warm napkin sealed in a plastic bag magically tends to find its way into your placemat. This is then used to wipe the hands and face and then the meal can start.

Supper was at a very interesting restaurant where you pay a fixed Yen 2000 (R117) per person. For this you get to eat as much sushi as you want. Each table is also fitted with a little gas BBQ on which you can fry prawns, beef strips, baby octopus on a skewer and a host of other foodstuff. Ice-cream and coffee and pudding as much as you want and really excellent imported fruit. The trick is that you have to be in and out inside 90 minutes otherwise you pay another Y2K.

Tomorrow we ride the Shinkansen again to Tokyo and then south to some more koi farms. It is time for Koibooi to hit the sack and hope that all my clothes are dry by the time I have to pack in the morning.

[koibooi]

Day 7 – 19 October 2007

Things are moving fast, very fast. I am sitting on the Shinkansen shooting through the Japanese countryside at about 400 km an hour. I am plugged into the train’s power and sitting in a nice comfortable seat, similar to the one when flying SAA business class. Unfortunately there is not internet connection on the trains yet but I understand there are plans to wire the trains in the near future with free connectivity. My thought goes to the Gautrain and I wonder if the experience will be similar to this one. The conductor bow each time he enters and leaves the compartment. The same goes for the girl pushing the trolley full of food and drinks.

Next to me sits an old man. He can not be a day older than 93 and still walking like a youngster. It must be the sushi I think as he unwraps a box full of goodies that he bought from the shop on the station. I unwrap my own purchase and open the bottle of cold green tea. We silently compare content and I decide that his choice is much better than mine as there is a lot more sashimi in his box. I am sure that one can buy a take-away from the station restaurants every day of the year and never eat the same stuff.

Koibooi is missing home today. It has been a while since I left Cape Town. I am missing wrestling with my son on the lounge floor and having cheese and wine with my lovely wife. I feel sad that I will not be able to attend my son’s first ever cricket match this weekend. He has been picked for the school team. I put on my earphones and fire up some music on the laptop.

We left Niigata (nie-ga-ta), the heart of Koi land this morning after a breakfast of tofu, mizo soup and rice en route for Hakata. I wonder if the All-Blacks don’t have any roots here? There will not be any koi on the agenda today, only traveling and some time to catch up with e-mail when I get back to the hotel.

At the station I had a interesting experience. A young Japanese boy was talking to his mother while pointing at me. They laughed as if sharing a secret joke at my expense. Next time I will definitely go for Japanese lessons before coming here. Shortly before the train arrived the mother tugged on my shirt sleeve and said to me “my boy said he did not know there were real giants in the world”. My 6 foot 6 frame must have really looked enormous to the small Japanese boy.

At the hotel we plan tomorrow and decide to have an early evening to recharge the batteries a bit. Tomorrow we are visiting some farms that have recently harvested their koi so hopefully we are in for a treat to see some very high quality fish. After the farm visit we are heading for central Japan to a place called Nagoya. There Koibooi will be meeting up with a friend from the UK. He has found a pub that is going to be open at 04h00 in the morning for the rugby but at the moment he refuses to take any bets. I wonder why?

This is Koibooi closing off on a short report for today

[koibooi]

Day 8 & 9 – 20 & 21 October 2007

Early morning we head to Ogata Koi Farm www.ogatakoi.com. They are located in the south of Japan near Fukuoka. His premises are very impressive with many koi houses and loads of ponds. I am immediately and heartily welcomed by Mr. Ogata. It seems as if he takes time out to welcome every visitor himself. At the farm I meet up with a UK koi dealer from Koi Logic www.koilogic.co.uk and two koi dealers from Belgium. Over a cup of green tea we discuss the incredibly wide variety of koi that Mr. Ogata has available for sale. I would estimate that any hobbyist can easily buy his entire collection by visiting only this one farm. Unfortunately he does not really cater for the hobbyist as his minimum shipment is 15 boxes. The UK koi dealer proudly shows me his pond of 400 koi that have been carefully selected over a period of 4 days. There are many specimens that any SA hobbyist will gladly display in his pond.

After the visit I head for Nagoya to meet up with Tony, a koi dealer from the UK who will be our guide for the next 4 days. Arriving early evening we go and eat something and then settle into bed by 10pm. At 2h30 in the morning the alarm goes off and Koibooi gets dressed and head downstairs where we catch a taxi to a sports bar called Shooters. It is the only pub we could find that was going to broadcast the rugby in English. As the kick off time of 4am gets closer the pub starts filling up with mostly Brits and Americans and one South African couple. They are English teachers as a local Japanese school. The word quickly spread throughout the pub that there are actually some South Africans in Japan and we are taunted from all angles. It is amazing that even in the eyes of defeat, the Americans and Brits still stand together.

As the game progress, the taunts turn into jeers and eventually everybody around is blaming the French referee. After the game I collect enough bets from the groups that stayed around long enough to see the end to pay for all the drinks for the evening and for the taxi ride back to the hotel. At 07h00 in the morning I fell into bed again only to be rudely awoken at 09h00 by the UK dealer that could not get any sleep after the game.

A good friend of mine and fellow koi hobbyist, Ernst van Dyk www.ernstvdyk.co.za, also arrived in Japan this morning. If you have a look at his website you will notice that last year Ernst received the Laureus Sports Star Award for all his achievements. Looking at the speeds he clocks up, I can definitely say that he is faster in his chair that what I am on my mountain bike. What makes this particular Japan trip so amazing is that on day one, I sat next to Mike Horn in the airplane and Mike serves on the world Laureus sports committee and was one of the judges that awarded Ernst this prestigious award in 2006.

We spent almost the entire day at Narita Koi farms, www.narita-koi.com. They have a huge selection of koi from a number of dealers throughout Japan with each farm’s koi proudly on display in its own pond. What was very interesting was that we looked at some of the same koi that have appeared on a popular South African dealer’s website. The price differential of what the SA dealer charged and what it is on sale for in Japan is dramatic but Koibooi will discuss pricing in a separate article soon.

I am also very happy and proud today as I spoke to my wife and son, and was told that my son’s team followed in the bokke’s footsteps and had won their cricket match. Watch for a young cricket bok to come in the next couple of years (he is turning 8 in January).

Following a hard day’s koi watching, we all headed for Hiroshima for the last leg of the trip. We will be staying put for the next few days as we spend time at the world known Sakai Koi farm.

Koibooi will report it as he sees it. E-speak to you soon.

[koibooi]

Day 10 – 22 October 2007

We arrived at the Hiroshima Airport Hotel very late last night after a about 5 hours on the plane and another 45 minutes in the taxi. It was late and we were tired. Nobody was particularly hungry, we just wanted to get settled in and go to bed and then the unthinkable happened…..the hotel did not know about us….there were no reservations. Now if there is one thing that I have learned on this trip then it is that the Japanese is very helpful so we went to the restaurant to have a beer and wait out the process. We ordered some noodles and Japanese pizza which was quite weird as they put fresh lettuce leaves as well as tomato quarters on after the pizza comes out of the oven. You then eat the “salad” off the top of the pizza and then get to the crust or as somebody in the party did, you toss the salad and only eat the pizza.

Somehow the hotel managed to find us accommodation and everybody went to bed. These rooms were a bit larger than some of the others that I have visited to date. Like the other hotels, the air-conditioning was hopelessly under powered and the windows could not open but at least the bed was comfortable.

Breakfast was great. I saw some Kellogs Corn Flakes for the first time since leaving home. I also had some yoghurt and canned fruit and even had toast and marmalade. There is a lot to be said for Japanese food but ohhhhh for the comforting tastes of home. After breakfast we were collected by taxi and after a short 20 minute drive, arrived at Sakai Fish Farm. First impression is that Sakai is not much different from the other farms I visited to date but then you step out of the one greenhouse and there is another one and another one and another one ……. one. The place is huge and I would estimate that if you put all the farms that Koibooi has visited in Niigata together, then you might get to the Sakai scale.

I saw hundreds of thousands of Kujaku fry of about 7cm being culled. Next to the Kujaku were 8 more fry ponds all waiting to be culled. I saw a water treatment plant that can provide fresh water for a small city and I saw koi, thousands of them of all sizes, of extremely good quality. Some of the largest koi were almost a meter long and the quality of red and black was phenomenal. These jumbo koi were expensive and one could easily pay upwards of R300 000 for a single koi. I was however very surprised to see the vast quantities of very high grade koi at extremely good prices.

It was eye opening to see a koi farm of this size and scale and the afternoon Koibooi witnissed history being made as the harvest from one of the best two year old mud ponds were brought into the greenhouse for sorting. The body shape on these fish was absolutely amazing. None of the skinny two year old koi of Niigata was present here. These koi were the product of very careful breeding with selected bloodlines and raised in low density mud ponds with the top 16 month old koi measuring in at 70cm. For R25k landed in South Africa you can buy one of her sisters (or brothers) and be assured that it is still going to grow like crazy and take some serious prizes in its future.

The evening Sakai took all the koi buyers that was visiting the farm out for dinner and it was a real mix of nationalities. Sitting at the table were Japanese, English, South Africans, an American, a Taiwanese and some Belgians. To top it all we were eating at an Italian restaurant.

Some US Chardonnay was consumed and some Italian red wine flowed but Koibooi has to confess that there is just no wine like the South African wine – even the English agreed to this which was surprising as the topic of the disallowed try in the World Cup seem to come up just about every 30 minutes and for them to admit anything good about SA at this stage was amazing.

Tomorrow is another Sakai day and there are plans that we will be attending the harvest of his biggest mud pond. This is Koibooi signing off.

[koibooi]

Day 11 – 23 October 2007

When I said in the previous post that we are going to attend a harvest at one of Sakai’s biggest mud ponds, I did not really understand the scale of the operation. This was not a pond, it was a lake. If you had a boat, you could ski on it. There are 600 two year old koi in the “pond” and almost all of them in the 55cm – 65cm range. Over a period of a three days the “pond” has been drained until it was only about a half meter deep. All the koi congregated at this deepest end and the Sakai staff could just walk in and pick up the koi. A crane was used to lift the koi to the waiting trucks with the portable tanks that took the precious cargo back to the greenhouses for sorting and classification.

As I sit and type this report, I am looking at an almost constant stream of very good koi being sorted and classified into three different categories. To quote Kentaro Sakai – “first class”, “business class” and “economy”. The “economy” pond contained some excellent specimens that will easily take some prizes at any South African show. Focusing mostly on the gosanke varieties, Sakai Fish Farm have certainly made history by breeding koi that will appeal to a very wide range of hobbyist, from the person looking for good pond fish to the person that want to enter koi in the All Japan show.

Koibooi spend a lot of time over the last two days talking to the dealer from America. It is very interesting to hear how the perspectives on koi differ depending on the country. I thought that there was only one standard that the Japanese set and everybody adhered to. Not so. The general American koi hobbyist apparently does not have the patience to grow koi on so they are looking for finished koi that can immediately compete in competitions. In South Africa the general koi hobbyist prefer to buy small koi and grow them on. Kobooi have been thinking a lot about this and have come to the conclusion that perhaps this approach is due to the high prices that we pay in SA for high grade koi so the general hobbyist can typically not afford to buy finished or large koi.

Sakai will be the last koi farm that I am visiting as I start my homeward journey tomorrow. It has been a long time since I left and I am glad that I am going home now. The learning curve has been tremendous and many of the koi “rules” that I have been taught in my koi keeping career have been turned upside down by watching how the fathers of the koi industry do things. Salt seem to play an important part in their koi keeping lives so I will re-look at my salt practices. I have also learned how to correctly apply monolith clay and seen how to handle koi. We debated the importance (or not) of pattern, body shape and color at length and whether a Sanke needs sumi on the shoulder or not. We discussed koi breeding and how to cull +-350 000 fish so that you only have 10 000 left and reducing these further to perhaps 500 of the best. I also learned a huge amount about skin quality and what to look for in the different varieties.

What I have come to realize is that it is highly unlikely that I will ever know all there is to know about this intriguing hobby called Nishkigoi.

In the morning I will check out of my hotel and head for Tokyo where I will spend one more night before catching a 10h30am flight back home. Visiting Japan and visiting all the koi farms have been a dream come true and something I would recommend every serious koi hobbyist try at least once. You will be a changed koi keeper when you come back.

This is Koibooi signing off. I hoped you found my ramblings entertaining, even if it only made you think about something else during your working day.