Today we packed our bags , and checked out of the hotel , and walked to the train station . It was going to be  long journey to Isawa , bullet train to Tokyo , and then a local train , then another high sped one to Isawa , almost a 4 hour trip . I always worry about long distances to breeders , especially one , because if things dont go to plan , then you have lost a day , and several train trips .

We arrived in Isawa , just after 12 ish , a quick spot of lunch , and then a taxi to the koi farm . When we arrived , Hajime the owner warmly greeted us , and called me by my first name , he had remembered me from 15 odd years ago . ( not sure thats a good or bad thing lol  ) Within minutes there was a dozen koi placed in a vat , right where we were standing . Thats a result , this guys want to sell , or not ................these were my koi that i hasd bought back in May . Some where female , but alot where male , but the quality was very good . If you are interested in the tanchos , or the two gin rins , then contact my friend Brian at Angel koi , as these belong to him . They were all purcahsed in May , and due to the floods , we were advised to leave them in the concrete ponds , rather than muDponds . It worked out well withe the koi coming out at 40-53cm . 

        Quite happy with the results , i thought as we had come all this way , we had better buy some more , just to be polite ! We had a look round , and there was a pond of small nisai , so we started bowling them up , vety pleased with a lot of doitsu and scaled varieties , but a VERY special doitsu tancho showa , with a great body , goshiki and a gin rin goshiki . I sorted through them , and selected the best nine . I was very happy with these , not cheap , but some very high grade in deed ! 

After this , Chris and i , looked at some nisai in another pond . Some serious quality here , and we soon had 4 in a vat set up for viewing . Chris selected the best pattern , while  i took the one with best body , and a second one with the best skin . All three were very high quality . These were not cheap koi by any standards , but a fair price for the high quality they where ! 

        Hajime  offered to drive us back to the station , for the trip to Tokyo . On the way we stopped at another breeder , where Chris bough an exceptional tancho goshiki from Hiroi . Thats the buying taken care of , tomorrow we have a day in Tokyo , and then fly back Monday , but please look back in  as we have our harvest details , and then our thoughts in the summery of the trip !