And So It Begins……!
So once again our long journey to Japan has started, and unlike past years we are doing it differently this year and flying from Heathrow with British Airways,albeit it was not our preferred choice but due to several reasons we have had no choice but to take this route, for many years now we have flown with KLM from Norwich our local airport… to Schiphol then onto Tokyo Narita then a bus to Haneda Airport for an internal flight down south to Fukuoka,but not only were their prices so high this time, the routes were absurd going from Norwich to Schiphol then to France then onto Japan,and that coupled with extremely long connecting times which were upwards of 5-7 hours and more, had we have opted for KLM this time it would have made what is always a long trip anyway, simply unbearable even more so now with the longer flying times due to airlines having to route around Russia and other war torn countries, so who knows if KLM continue with their high prices and terrible routes this may be the way we travel there for the foreseeable future.
So as previously said due to flying from Heathrow and departing early Sunday morning, rather than risk travelling down there very early on Sunday when anything could happen we have decided to go down to Heathrow on Saturday and stay over night at a Premier Inn taking all the hassle and worry out of something potentially going wrong.
This trip as always will mainly be concentrating on selecting our Tosai for the coming season,along with the odd Nisai here and there along the way as we always seem to come across something we just can’t resist, it will also be an opportunity to see all the Koi we have left there as Azukari, which for me is such an exciting part of any trip and discussing with the various breeders on which to potentially leave again and what ones to ship etc, etc, as of course now leaving them for another growing season from Nisai through to Sansai or Sansei to Yonsai etc inevitably costs a lot more than what it does Tosai to Nisai for example, mainly due to mud pond or concrete pond growing space food etc etc, so very careful consideration has to be given to every single Koi we have out there, usually we would have seen these on our Autumn buying trip but as many of you know we opted last year not to go, as again flights were incredibly high with absurd long winded routes.
Breeders
We will of course be visiting on this trip the same breeders we have in the past Okawa,Ueno,Ogata why…..! because it works that’s the simplest answer to that question really , over the years we have built up such good relationships with the breeders we visit and this in my opinion pays off in the long term, don’t get me wrong it’s not always as easy to find every year what you are sometimes looking for, and we often come home after not finding certain Koi we would have liked, and we realise in certain parts of Japan there are literally hundreds of breeders where it’s easy to just walk out of one into another until you eventually finally see what you are looking for, but for us the risks of this is just to high, we have always tried to stick to as fewer breeders as possible thus trying to eliminate any potential health issues, so whilst we do also purchase from a few more breeders from the south and the north we will always try and stick to buying from a least as possible whilst we can.
Please do keep an eye on our Facebook Page, and our Japan Blog as we will be putting daily updates on there.
Lastly
We often get asked what exactly is the journey like and what’s entailed to get to where we go in Japan, for those interested ill list it below…..! albeit this is not our usual route
Heathrow to Haneda Terminal 1. Flight time approx 14hrs
Haneda Terminal 1 catch a bus to Haneda Terminal 3
Haneda Terminal 3 internal flight to Fukuoka Flight time approx 2hrs
Fukuoka to Hakata Station Taxi 25-30mins traffic dependant
Hakata Station Catch the Shinkansen to Kurume approx 18mins
Once at Kurume out of the station and literally 500yds to our base for the week the Station Hotel……….
