Today was the last day for our customers and they had all said they had finished buying so i decieded today was azukari day , this means to look after , or basically meaning to buy a koi and leave it in Japan in a mud pond for one year . So we started off going to Kase , now although he breeds doitsu and metallics , he also breeds showa from Sekiguchi brood stocks , in fact we have one now there that Rod Taylor has left in Japan for one year . When we arrived we viewed the nisai , including a new ochiba which he called a metalic ochiba ( not a kogani ochiba before you ask ) , they were quite nice and the doistu ones looked like lemon hariwakes with a great lustre . This breeder has so many wierd and wonderfull varietys its great just to look but i may select some next week when i will be looking for a lot of nisai .Eager to see the sansai showa to find somthing to leave in Japan , he had some very nice showa that were a little on the expensive side , and then Steve saw a very nice kindai showa ,the skin quality was excellant , i guessed this would be very expensive but was astounded when the breeder said the price , again Steve was adding to his growing collection of koi .Not bad for a bloke that had stopped buying !!!! The guy who works for Kase then said somthing and pointed to me , customers asakari he said in Japanese , he pulled a bambo cover back from another pond , and there was Rods showa .....................but if tell you all about that i wont be able to keep Rod in suspence untill Monday when he joins us in Japan ! Leaving Kase we went to see some temples on the way to Suda as they are very close . Here we stopped for some tourist bits and pictures , a very nice moment and very funny for reasons i am not going to say on here , in fact im going to change the subject completely !Suda was very disapointing as he hasnt harvested much more than a pond of nisai , they will start the larger koi next week so hoepfully a visit then will change that . As it was the customers last day i sugested that we could visit Dianichi and Hoshikins , Dianichi had some koi in , but again for some reason they hadnt done much harvesting , so we walked across the road to hoshikins , totally differant , there was a sea of red and white with some amazing kohaku swimming round , also a sea of customers waiting to be served ( and most of them english strangley enough ) so we decieded to come back later . With a trip to the 7/11 again for lunch and a visit to the dry goods shop , our little party finally admitted to being all koid out ! So we took a trip over two or three moutains for sceneary views and photos , coming down the mountains through a back road i diddnt know exisited we came out at Yagenji , what a coincednce so in we went . Once again looking at some more harvested koi , there seemed to ba alot of very resonably priced three year olds , four or five were bowled some returned and more added .Then it seems through a slight misunderstanding me and steve were buying the same Sanke , as most of you know my love is for kohaku and showa , so the fact that i liked this particuler sanke said alot for its quality , but my policy of customer first really can be a pain in the back side so no more fish for me stevo had himself a very nice sanke .That left me with a very nice showa with excellant skin quality with sumi way down so i decieded to leave that in Japan for one year .One hi showa that wasnt high grade but just had an awsome frame and was a very striking fish , another sanke which grows on me the more i look at it , and last but not least a massive gin rin yamabuki , all koi sansai , female , and around 60cm and some nearer to 65 . After this it was time to wonder down from Mushigame and head towards Nagayoka train station and say our farewell to Steve , Angie , Phil and Maggie . This week has been very enjoyable and the party were great and every one they met in the hotel enjoyed thier company , i think they had a great time as i know i have and will certainly miss having "mummy watson" watching over me , and making sure i eat drink and rest !!! . It was great to have some of the people who work so hard for koi club for so many years come out and complete the trip of a lifetime , i wish them a safe journey home . ....................photos as follows , Kindai showa from kase sansai , temples and scenary , Steves Yangeji sanke , Showa from Yagenji staying in Japan , Yagenji Sanke , Yagenji hi showa , gin rin yamabuki from them as well ! The last two photos are of the monument dedicted to the children who died in the earthquaqe a few years ago .