Ill forgo the usual explanation of travel across Japan , and what seems compulsary pics of planes and the bullet train , with exception of a mntion of the snow , its been a mild winter by Niigata standards , that is untill i arrive , seems theyve had more in the last 24 hours than they have had all winter !!!!!!!!!

After being picked up at the train station we went straight to Maruhiro koi farm , it was good to be back after missing the Autumn trip due to my leg injurys , the breeder as ever had a smile oh his face as we met , which turned to a frown when he saw me take two crutches out of the car and hobble across the snow . After explaining its just to take the weight of my new knee injury we had the compulsary 3 cups of coffee , and then it was time to start some bowling . Have i ever told you how much i love this place ?? Well i guess i may have mentioned it a couple of times before , well once again the breeder diddnt disapoint again , selected some nice nisai , andthen went into the better quality ponds and wihin a short time i had more koi than i needed , so selected out the ones that wernt required and returned them to the ponds. Then i had startedbowling some very nice nisa and sansai . Ended up buying some very nice showa , and three sansai kohaku , and one yonsai i have reserved , apart from the last one , all other koi were purchased .So a quick afternoon and around 35 koi purchased already , signs are good that this trip will be up to our usual standards ! Pics are mainly nisai , except last three kohakus which are three sansai and one yonsai