We finished up most if not all of the preditor netting around the ponds. So we started moving the fish out, all ages, types & sizes. We even moved the male oyagoi from Sanbusho out the other day.

Also because of the lack of snow the past winter we had to run a couple water lines across Nigoro mountain again. One of the ponds at the top of the mountain suffered extensive damage from the earthquake and hasn't been repaired yet. So we are using the water from that pond to top off the other ponds.

Ever played the game Grand Theft Auto? Driving in Japan is kinda like that, unless your like my friend who has to make up for reality and drive perfectly in the game. Granted I don't see too many people getting pulled out of their cars and viciously beating them to death on the sidewalk. But, Incase you ever find yourself driving in Japan (I don't reconmend it), I'll give you a run down of how it works. (If you get a ticket from my advice, I take no responsibility.)

Speed Limit-
In Japan basically you take the speed limit and double it. Even then I still see a lot of people exceding that. The only cars that I have ever see obeying the limit has to be ambulances, maybe fire trucks too. Whats nuts is that ambulances wait at red lights, if I ever get in an accident and need an ambulance. I'm going be like,"WTF drive faster!! Look at all these cars passing us, (and do they) hurry up and get me to a hospital!."

Signal Lights-
I have to admit that in America I am guilty of speeding up when the light turns yellow, but Japanese drivers take it to another level. Didn't quite make it in time before the light changed from yellow to red? No problem, as long as two cars in front of you didn't already run the red, go for it! Also the drivers that are waiting for the light to turn green start pulling out as soon as the other one turns red!?! How they don't have record high car crashes escapes me.

Stop Signs-
Rarely used, unless you are not in a hurry (never the case) or your car can't accelerate fast enough to avoid causing an accident..

No Passing Signs-
Only applies if the car you want to pass is going slower than double the speed limit.

Random Obsticles-
The most common obsticle has to be turtles, turtles is the name some friends and I coined for elderly people. Mostly because they move so slow and sometimes walk on all fours, I don't blame them though some of them are pushing 100 years old. Anyways, Turtles have a bad habbit of crossing roads without looking first, and not even necissarily in crosswalk zones. You have to be careful because most of them are very small, and the last thing you want to do in Japan is hit somebody with your car. If you do, you might as well whip out a katana and preform harakiri right there on the spot. It will probably be less painfull then dealing with the Japanese Justice System.

Merging-
I still haven't quite firgured out how this works in Japan, I think a lot of it relies on the turtle principle. Just merge without looking, and everything will be alright.

The past couple of days we started moving Gosanke out to a new pond in Ogami. Its a pretty big mountain near Yoshikawa, about an hour drive from Ojiya. On the top of the mountain they have a place where you can pay to fly a hanglider, and the sign also says they have a bobsled. Its probably more like an alpine slide, I might have to check it out in the summer. I've always wanted to try hangliding. On the way home tonight, Shinji pointed out a power plant. Turns out its a nuclear power plant, also turns out of the ever have a meltdown, caused by an earthquake or otherwise. The fallout zone "ends" about 1 km from where I live. Notice the (") around ends, do I really believe there is a magic wall thats going to stop the radiation from hailing down on me in the event of a meltdown? Kim Jong Ill has been popping up in the new a lot lately too.

Sorry mom, but I like giving you reasons to worry.

Japanese TV isn't very entertaining. Many people in the U.S. and other parts of the world thinks it is so great because the few of the actually good show make it there. But in reality many of those good shows you can see from Japan in the U.S. hardly ever (if ever) get played here. Most of the game shows aren't too bad, but it seems like they do the same thing every day. The news flat out sucks, if they ever have any police video or anything interesting on, usually the whole screen, except for the police officer, is blurred out. I don't know why they even use the clips, who wants to watch a grown man dressed up like a boy scout walk around in a cloud of blurr? I don't.

The other night though, there was a kinda cool show on. There was 4 people split into 3 teams (2 of the people where twins) and they all dressed up like ninjas. The twins were chained together, they were inside a replica (maybe real) Edo period village. The point of the game was to try and not get caught by the police dog that was smelling their trail. In the village there was hidden chests that contained items to try and help the contestants (none of the really worked though). One of the chests had a spray to cover up your scent track, it only slowed the dog down though, another chest had a key to unlock the twins from each other. The dog was only following the scent of one of the twins, but it did manage to catch both of them. And by catch I mean bite the arm of the contestant. The contestants were wearing those are tube thingys that they use for training, so nobody got hurt. But the dog did rip the tube off of the arm of one of the contestants, and it wanted more. But the trainer stopped it before it could bite the contestant again.

Other than an occasional good (interesting) show like that, most of the Japanese TV is pretty dull. The commercial are usually more interesting than the actual show. Its like the Super Bowl everyday!

I don't really like the format of my blog. It feels very repetitive and I would like to make it more interesting. So from now on I am going to try and make my blog more personal and informative instead of a log of what I do day to day. I want to try and focus on Japanese culture, my experiances, and koi tips. I might not post as often, but I will try to make it more interesting.

4-21-07 Today we were pretty busy helping customers all over and doing kanri. Other than that I went to the Shinkokai party tonight with a big group of friends. I met a lot of new people and a lot of prior aquintances. The party over all was very fun and entertaining.

4-22-07 Today I had the morning off so I headed to the koi show to look at koi, take pictures and socialize. I also did another short video interview at the koi show, and at the awards ceremony I took part in the banzai, my first time. After lunch I helped pack up the fish and bring them back to Muikaichi and put them in a quarantine tank. After that we did kanri and finished up for the night.

4-19-07 This morning we packed some boxes of fish at Sanbyono, then headed to Sanbusho to pack a couple more there. We did kanri before returning back to Muikaichi after the fish were sent off. Back at Muikaichi we did kanri and a big group of customers came. They didn't have a translator with them so I did the translating for them. Takuya went to deliver some tools to Marudo and got stuck helping set up at the koi show until lunchtime. Shinji all day today was driving a dump truck, I think he was moving class 5 to Myoken mountain to repair the road with. Before lunch Toshi & I moved some sold fish to the shipping prep tanks. After lunch we headed out to put up preditor netting on the mud ponds, but Takuya & I had to turn around to help some customers at Sanbusho. After that we headed out again to put up preditor netting. When it started to get dark we head back and did kanri & locked up for the night.

4-20-07 This morning Toshi went to the airport to pick up fish that belong to a customer and brought them to the show site. Meanwhile Takuya & I did kanri and took some pictures of some Asagi tosai that Marudo is selling at the koi show. Next we headed to Sanbyono to put up netting around the pond so preditors can't walk under the horizontal netting. Before we could finish, Toshi & a couple Japanese customers that are staying with us for the koi show up. So next I helped Toshi take pictures for info cards for the koi show. After lunch Takuya & I helped some customers real quick at Muikaichi. Next Toshi & I moved all of Marudo's entries to the koi show. There we also picked up Daisuke from Konishi koi farm in Hiroshima, he is staying with us for the koi show. This is his first time judging a koi show, so he is excited for tomorrow.

4-17-07 For some reason I can't remember what we did today. I think this is how the day went.

This morning we did kanri at both Muikaichi & Sanbusho before returning back to Muikaichi. At Muikaichi Toshi & I caught and moved a bunch of nisai to the shipping prep tanks set up at Sanbyono. After lunch I know we made up a bunch of boxes and did Kanri at Sanbusho & Muikaichi, but I can't remember anything else.

4-18-07 This morning we packed fish at 5 a.m., then had breakfast. Then at 7 a.m. we went to Sanbusho to pack a couple boxes of tosai, and back to Sanbyono to pack more boxes of nisai there. Next Toshi & I headed to Sanbusho again to do kanri, before returning back to Sanbyono. A while ago somebody approached me about frequently shoot short videos for a koi info website. So today we shot a test video, next I think we are going to shoot a video at the Wakagoi koi show. This website for the videos is schedualed to be online sometime in July. When the website is up I will post the URL here and add a link to it. Anyways, after the test video I went to Muikaichi to help Toshi take more pictures for certificates of lineage. Next we all worked on finishing up the preditor netting on the ponds at Sanbyono before lunch. After lunch Toshi, Takuya, Shinji & I headed up Nigoro mountain to the mud ponds. There we spent the afternoon running a water line from the female oyagoi pond on the top of the mountain, south side to the male oyagoi pond on the middle, north side of the mountain. That was actually a lot of fun becuase we got to walk all the way around the mountain, and get a close up view of earthquake damage where the earth split. I wouldn't wander to far into the woods in the summer or fall though, because of the bees and possibly poisonious spiders. Afterwards we headed back down to Sanbusho & Muikaichi to do kanri & lock up.

4-15-07 Today I had the day off, so around 11 a.m. I went with Toshi, Kasumi & their kids to go hanami (flower viewing). All of the Sakura (cherry) trees were in full bloom today, it was really beautiful. While the kids and Kasumi watched a live action power rangers show that was at the park, Toshi & I went to go get food. After getting food we jumped in the beer line, but they sold the last beer to the guy in front of us, this was like at 11:30 a.m.! So we had to settle for tea instead. After hanami I wanted to buy some new clothes, so Keiko brought me to a bunch of stores in Nagaoka to go shopping, I laugh at how much some of the "american" clothes sell for.

4-16-07 This morning Toshi & I did kanri at Muikaichi & Sanbusho. Next at Sanbusho we took pictures of some tosai so Toshi can make certificates of lineage for them. After that I went with Takuya up Myoken mountain to continue putting preditor netting on all of the ponds that Marudo leases up there. After lunch we set up some shipping prep tanks in the garage at Sanbyono, before Yoshie & I headed up to Nigoro. There we got some plastic box liners and checked on the koi. Next it was back to Sanbyono to start making the preditor netting for the two ponds in front of the house. But before we could finish we headed to Sanbusho to do kanri and lock up for the night. We did the same at Muikaichi before calling it a night.

4-13-07 This morning Marudo & I picked out some tosai for a customer at Muikaichi and moved them to a shipping prep tank. Next I went to Nigoro with Toshi to grade most of the tosai ponds. When we finished we headed to Sanbyono for lunch. After lunch we made some boxes at Sanbyono then headed up to Nigoro to catch all the remaining Chagoi out of the upper house so we could move them to Muikaichi. But first we went up to Ohira and seined one of the tanks containing nisai there. Shinji & I moved those fish to the tank we just cleared out at Nigoro, while Toshi & Takuya unloaded the other fish at Muikaichi. Next we packed a bunch of boxes of tosai at Sanbusho & Sanbyono, afterwards we did kanri and locked up at both Sanbusho & Muikaichi. Tonight for dinner we went out to Yakinuki (Korean Bar-B-Que) as a party to congradulate Takuto on starting 1st grade. On the way to the restraunt the road had Sakura (cherry) trees on both sides, and today most of the flowers blossemed so the view was beautiful. And tonight since it was Friday the 13th I prank called one of my friends and told them to watch out for Jason.

4-14-07 This morning we did kanri at Muikaichi before heading to Sanbusho to help a Japanese dealer pick out tosai. After lunch we showed another customer the tosai at Sanbusho, then Marudo, Yoshie & I picked out and moved some tosai to the shipping prep bins. It was really windy today and some of the siding on the roof started to peel up at Sanbusho. So Marudo climbed up and re-hammered it down. Before climbing up he took his cell phone off his belt and set it on his jacket, when he climbed down he forgot about it and picked up his jacket. When he did his cell phone fell into one of the tanks, he wasn't to happy about that. Next we headed to Sanbyono, there I helped Toshi & Takuya clean some fiberglass tanks. Next Takuya & I did kanri at Muikaichi & Sanbusho and locked up for the night.

4-11-07 This morning we packed some big kohakus at 5 A.M. After breakfast Toshi, Shinji & I headed up to Nigoro with the 2 ton. We seined all of the Chagoi, Gin Rin Chagoi & Shiro Utsuri in the upper koi house. We inspected them for parasites before loaded them into the truck. After lunch Shinji & I brought the fish to Yoshikawa, on the way there we stopped to check if we had enough air pumping into the tanks. On the side of the road there was a bunch of porn magazines, porn videos, and a couple trucker bombs, it was really nasty. After all the fish were released in the pond, we headed back. While driving Shinji told me about the summers in Japan. He said they consist of a lot of festivals, camping & Bar-B-Qing, and swimming in the ocean (meaning lots of girls in bikinis). Damn, now I don't wanna go home in August for Minnesota's first koi show. Also Shinji, showed me a bunch of good places to bring girls on dates, restraunts, ect (I really like Shinji, he is so helpful). Back at Sanbusho, Toshi & Takuya had already finished kanri, so Shinji & I headed to Muikaichi to do kanri and lock up for the night.

4-12-07 Today we packed a bunch of boxes of tosai at Sanbusho at 7 A.M. And since we were already there we decided to do kanri before heading home for breakfast. We also took down some of the poly insulation because it is starting to stay warm at night here. After breakfast Toshi, Shinji & I went to Kaki to start filling the ponds with water. We put a valve on one of the fill pipes and we thought it was open. So Shinji & I told Toshi to flip the breaker for the fill pump. But the valve was closed, so the valve pipe exploded. I wasn't hit by any shrapnel, which is suprizing considering how close I was standing to the pipe. But Shinji got hit in the shin, and it left a pretty big bruise. After that ordeal we headed to Sanbyono to pour the concrete for the patio. After that was finished we took a lunch break, then Shinji & I headed up Myoken mountain. There we continued putting up more preditor fencing. When it started to get dark we headed to Sanbusho to meet up with everybody else and do kanri. Next we went to Muikaichi to do kanri and lock up.

If you just started reading this blog, or missed where I explained what "kanri" means, I'll repost it here. "Kanri" is the japanese word used to describe all of the following: dumping water from the filters (kind of like dumping a vortex filter), feeding the fish, checking the pond temperature, and checking to make sure all of the equipment is working properly.

4-9-07 Today Takuya & I had the day off, he asked me if I wanted to go to Joetsu with him, I said sure. He had to go there to get his car fixed because a semi hit his mirror while driving on a narrow road. It was about a 2 hour drive to get their, we went to a fish market while there, that was pretty interesting. Also tonight Toshi got home from Aichi preficture, he was their to represent Marudo for the Auction that Narita Fish Farm did.

4-10-07 This morning I went to visit a friend of mine from out of town, he is staying at Suda's house. Afterwards I headed back to Muikaichi to see who needed help. I went with Shinji to meet Takuya at Sanbusho. We put away a couple prep tanks & did kanri. Next Takuya & I went to Nigoro to catch some sold fish to move to the shipping prep tanks at Sanbusho. I helped him seine that first pond then I headed up to Ohira to do kanri. After returning to Nigoro I helped Takuya with catching the fish. We caught about 300 shiro utsuri tosai and 160 sanke tosai, bagged them up and moved the to Sanbusho. Then we helped Marudo help a couple customers at Sanbusho before heading to lunch. After lunch Takuya & I gathered supplies then headed up Myoken mountain to start putting up preditor netting on 3 new ponds Marudo is leasing this year. We got as far as we could before it got to dark, then we head back to Muikaichi to help a couple customers. We also moved a couple big kohakus from Muikaichi to the shipping prep tanks at Sanbyono. When the customers left, Marudo, Takuya & I headed to Sanbusho to do kanri and catch one more kohaku to move to the shipping prep tank. While Shinji did kanri at Muikaichi. After we unloaded the last fish we locked up and called it a night.

4-9-07 Today Takuya & I had the day off, he asked me if I wanted to go to Joetsu with him, I said sure. He had to go there to get his car fixed because a semi hit his mirror while driving on a narrow road. It was about a 2 hour drive to get their, we went to a fish market while there, that was pretty interesting. Also tonight Toshi got home from Aichi preficture, he was their to represent Marudo for the Auction that Narita Fish Farm did.

4-10-07 This morning I went to visit a friend of mine from out of town, he is staying at Suda's house. Afterwards I headed back to Muikaichi to see who needed help. I went with Shinji to meet Takuya at Sanbusho. We put away a couple prep tanks & did kanri. Next Takuya & I went to Nigoro to catch some sold fish to move to the shipping prep tanks at Sanbusho. I helped him seine that first pond then I headed up to Ohira to do kanri. After returning to Nigoro I helped Takuya with catching the fish. We caught about 300 shiro utsuri tosai and 160 sanke tosai, bagged them up and moved the to Sanbusho. Then we helped Marudo help a couple customers at Sanbusho before heading to lunch. After lunch Takuya & I gathered supplies then headed up Myoken mountain to start putting up preditor netting on 3 new ponds Marudo is leasing this year. We got as far as we could before it got to dark, then we head back to Muikaichi to help a couple customers. We also moved a couple big kohakus from Muikaichi to the shipping prep tanks at Sanbyono. When the customers left, Marudo, Takuya & I headed to Sanbusho to do kanri and catch one more kohaku to move to the shipping prep tank. While Shinji did kanri at Muikaichi. After we unloaded the last fish we locked up and called it a night.

4-7-07 This morning we packed fish at 7 AM, then after breakfast we moved the temp. garage back a couple feet, and releveled it. Next we dug the floor down a little bit so we can add rocks later as the floor, instead of dirt. Yoshie wants a patio on the side of the house, so we dug the dirt down, and added class 5 for a base. We are going to pour concrete later, but first the class 5 needs to be packed. After lunch we continued working on the patio until we got as far as we could with the tools we had. So Takuya & I headed to Sanbusho to continue painting signs, while Marudo & Shinji worked on making one of the mudponds at Sanbyono larger. Takuya painted while I did the lay out. After a while Shinji showed up to help paint, so I did kanri and locked up at Sanbusho. After painted a couple more signs we headed to Muikaichi to do kanri and lock up.

4-8-07 This morning we did kanri at Sanbusho & Nigoro, then Shinji, Takuya, Yoshie & I headed up to the back side of Nigoro mountain where a bunch of mud ponds are. We went up there to get a couple rock we need to make a bench. We head back to Sanbyono and used the rocks we just got plus the huge slab that has been sitting outside Marudo's house since I arrived last year to make a bench. This morning while the rest of us went to get the rocks Marudo packed the class 5 with the bulldozer tracks. So next we added more class 5 and releveled it. After lunch Marudo finished up the mud pond at Sanbyono with the bulldozer while I moved some dirt with the excavator. Next I helped Shinji & Takuya making forms for the concrete for the patio. After that Takuya and I went to the hardware store to get some supplies, on the way back we say something hilarious. Some old guy was trying to move a 20' long metal pipe with his little kei car. He fed the pipe through the passenger window and the back window, his little car was only about 5' long so he had about 7.5' of pipe hanging out of either end of his car. When Takuya & I saw this we burst out laughing. Once back at Sanbyono we had to cut up some metal pipe that we had bought, or atleast try. The saw we were using basically had no blade left on it. Everytime we would cut the pipe it would wear farther and farther down, to the point where we had to cut the pipe, rotate it, and repeat about 4 times to get the pipe cut all the way. After we cut up most of the pipe we head to Sanbusho to do kanri and lock up for the night. Then to Muikaichi to do the same.

Random Ramblings...

I was watching a game show on TV one night and there was this really weird show on. Japan has this weird obsession with guys that have had sex changes, they call them "new half". So on this show they had about 6 guys that had had sex changes and they were all standing behind a wall looking through a hole so you could only see their faces. There was 2 teams and the teams had to guess from the the new half(s) faces who's operation (transformation) cost the most, cheapest and everything in between. At end the revealed the new half(s) and how much their transformations cost. Also they showed before pictures. Most of them actually looked like women, except for their Adam's apples. But one of them totally looked like a guy that just put on make up and a mini skirt. And the weirdest part was that he/she wasn't even the person who spent the least money, I think he/she got ripped off.

This is from last year, but I felt it deserved to be posted. So most of you who have been to Japan probably know a couple Japanese phrases cause you looked them up before you went to Japan. And naturally, you probably looked up a couple bad words, so you most likely know what chin chin means. If you don't I'll fill you in know, but when in Japan don't say it while eating a meal with anybody. Chin chin means penis. So one night one of Marudo's grand kids was reading a book. And he started yelling out chin chin densha, densha means train. So I was like, wait a minute, why is he screaming penis train? Whats wrong with these children's books in Japan? Penis train? When Marudo's family stopped laughing after about 5 minutes, they took a dictionary out to look up what chin chin densha was in english. Turns out it doesn't mean penis train, but actually street car, like in San Francisco. Hmm... San Francisco, penis train, it all makes sense now. The Japanese have sick minds!

If that wasn't bad enough, tonight on TV I saw the most perverted comercial in my life. So there is a Japanese business man playing chess with and American girl (?) dressed up in a french maids costume. And the japanese guy keeps looking from the chess board to chicks cleavage. Finally he picks up his chess piece and "accidently" drops it on the floor. So he bends over and picks it up and tilts his head to look up the girls skirt but she's got her head under the table looking at him and says,"check mate". Then at the end of the comercial its got the Japanese guy wearing the french maid costumer cleaning the house while the girl is sitting back, relaxing and enjoying a cup of coffee. I think that topped the "I love M.I.L.F.s" t-shirt commercial.

4-5-07 This morning again we headed up to Nigoro to move the last tank of Nisai Ogons and Chagoi out to the big pond at Yoshikawa. I forgot to mention that also while cleaning them of parasites we also check the sex of the fish. We only move the females out to the mud pond. Once all the fish were loaded, and after lunch, Shinji & Takuya brought them to the pond. Toshi & I went to Sanbusho to check the fish and then to Muikaichi. There we took pictures of fish for entry forms for the Wakagoi koi show. After that we did kanri and locked up at Sanbusho and Muikaichi.

4-6-07 This morning for the last time to move fish we headed up to Nigoro in the 2 ton truck. Today was easy though, all we had to do was catch all the remaining fish cause they have all been cleaned already. So we brought the fish to Muikaichi to unload into on of the sell tanks. After lunch some customers came, and we helped them at Muikaichi then brought them to Sanbusho. But Toshi & I headed to the mud pond coop ( the area name is Kaki ) to finish stringing the preditor netting, while the others helped the customers. It turns out Marudo has 4 ponds at Kaki, not just 3. So Toshi & I strung the last pond, and checked the other ones. After the we headed back to Sanbyono to clear all the stuff out og the temparary garage we built last fall. We also had and excavator dropped of for digging mud ponds deeper, but we used it to pick up the temp. garage and move it closer to the house. When that was finished we called it a night.

4-5-07 This morning again we headed up to Nigoro to move the last tank of Nisai Ogons and Chagoi out to the big pond at Yoshikawa. I forgot to mention that also while cleaning them of parasites we also check the sex of the fish. We only move the females out to the mud pond. Once all the fish were loaded, and after lunch, Shinji & Takuya brought them to the pond. Toshi & I went to Sanbusho to check the fish and then to Muikaichi. There we took pictures of fish for entry forms for the Wakagoi koi show. After that we did kanri and locked up at Sanbusho and Muikaichi. Tonight I decided it would be fun to try and piss off most of the residents of Ojiya. So with Toshihiro, and Futoshi Mano of Dainichi, I decide to go with them in one of those cars that the polititions ride around screaming at people in. I even got to wear their neon green over coat and white gloves, while I waved at people. That whole waving thing is a dangerous activity on narrow city streets. There are cars flying by us from both directions cause we drive so slow as to make sure everybody within a 5 mile radius can hear us for atleast a good 5 minutes. I am suprized nobody lost any fingers or arms below the elbow. One guy we were pulling up to was working in his garage, before we could say anything like,"yoroshiku onegaishimasu (don't forgot about us when your voting) The guy got up and ran over to his light switch and shut the lights off so we could see him. He turned them back on once we passed, but the was really funny we were all laughing in the car. But not everybody hated our pressense, some people came out of their houses or leaned out windows to wave back at us. And some of their reactions when they saw my face was pretty funny too.

4-6-07 This morning for the last time to move fish we headed up to Nigoro in the 2 ton truck. Today was easy though, all we had to do was catch all the remaining fish cause they have all been cleaned already. So we brought the fish to Muikaichi to unload into on of the sell tanks. After lunch some customers came, and we helped them at Muikaichi then brought them to Sanbusho. But Toshi & I headed to the mud pond coop ( the area name is Kaki ) to finish stringing the preditor netting, while the others helped the customers. It turns out Marudo has 4 ponds at Kaki, not just 3. So Toshi & I strung the last pond, and checked the other ones. After the we headed back to Sanbyono to clear all the stuff out og the temparary garage we built last fall. We also had and excavator dropped of for digging mud ponds deeper, but we used it to pick up the temp. garage and move it closer to the house. When that was finished we called it a night.

4-3-07 This morning we got up at 5:00 AM to pack my tosai I bought, once they were packed Marudo & I drove to Niigata airport to drop them off. After returning home we had breakfast then we helped some customers from Germany at Muikaichi. Afterwards we had tea with them at Sanbyono and talked for quite a while. I went with Takuya next to Sanbusho to paint some signs for the mud ponds. But we ran out of paint and it was around noon so we headed to Sanbyono for lunch. After lunch Takuya went to get more paint while I did the lay out for the signs. When Takuya arrived he started painting the Kanji while I continued doing the lay out. The signs are to put up at the mud ponds warning people not to fish in the pond or dump waste into it. Next we caught some jumbo tosai that we sold in a magazine auction and moved them to a shipping prep tank. While I did kanri, Takuya painted a couple more signs. Then we locked up and head to Muikaichi to do kanri and lock up for the night. Tonight Marudo & I packed one box of nisai and brought them to Isa, he agreed to bring them to the consolidator cause we had already be awake for so long. The ship time was 11:00 PM.

4-4-07 This morning after doing kanri at Muikaichi we headed up to Nigoro. We decided to move some nisai Ogon & Chagoi mix out to the huge pond in Yoshikawa, near the ocean. After picking any parasites off of the fish and loaded them into the truck we took a lunch break at Nigoro. Takuto, Toshihiro's son came with us today because he wanted to help us out. He says he wants to be a koi breeder when he grows up, he is only about 6 years old right now. After lunch Toshi, Takuto & I headed out the pond, on the way there we drove by the ostrich farm again. I saw 3 of them there today. We released a little over 240 fish, and while we were doing it the weather turned really bad. It got cold, windy, and started to rain, it even snowed a little bit. When we finished we headed back to Muikaichi to do kanri and lock up for the night.

Also I forgot to mention that when I was shopping for a cell phone that they had motorola razors. But unlike in the U.S. where they cost around $100 plus your plan, they were free here. All you had to do was pay for your plan.

4-1-07 Today I had the day off, so in the morning I studied kanji. I went out to lunch with Shinji, Kasumi and Takuto & Kengo (Kasumi & Toshihiro's kids). After lunch because the weather was so nice I decided to go for a jog. When I turned onto a road I was behind some Japanese guy who was jogging. At first he didn't notice me, but I started gaining ground on him. He kept looking back at me and realized I was a foriegner. So he started to pick up his pace, I think he thought I was chasing him. Anyways after I got home I went shopping for a cell phone with Keiko & Yoshie and on the way to the store we drove past the guy I was jogging behind. He saw me in the car and pointed me out, and I had told Keiko & Yoshie that some guy thought I was chasing him but they didn't believe me until he pointed at me because today is April fools day. At the cell phone shop I picked out a phone but I have to pick it up tomorrow cause it takes them a while to program it or something. After dinner Tei's mom must have called, becuase Keiko told me that Tei showed all her friends at school my picture, supposedly (sp.?) they all had the same response Tei did. Great, I guess I can't go to Chiba or Tokyo anymore without being mobbed.

4-2-07 This morning I did kanri at Muikaichi. After that we moved some fish from Muikaichi to the shipping prep tank Shinji set up yesterday at Sanbyono. Then we headed to Sanbusho to do kanri and set up another shipping prep tank in the garage there. Next we made up boxes for tomorrows shipments. After lunch I picked up my cell phone. And then I tried to make Marudo prank call my parents for April fools but he wouldn't do it. Then Shinji, Takuya and I headed back to the coop mud pond area to continue working on the preditor fencing. We strung 2 of the 3 ponds with fishing line before we headed back to Muikaichi to do kanri and lock up.

This morning we decided to move some big fish out to a mud pond. First we did kanri at Muikaichi, then we went to Sanbusho to get the 2 ton truck ready for moving fish. From there we headed to Nigoro, once there we started moving fish from one tank into the truck. The water is still pretty cold so when we could not make a fist with our hands we decided to take a lunch break. We ate lunch inside of whats left of the old house at Nigoro. After lunch we continued moving fish into the truck, and when we couldn't safely put anymore in we headed to the pond. It was about an hour drive to the mud pond in Teradomari, once there we checked the tempature between the pond water and water in the transport takes from Nigoro. It was about the same cause the tank the fish came from wasn't heated. So we moved them into the pond, they were sansai & yonsai yamabuki ogons, kabuto ogons, Chagoi, and Karashi (Kigoi). Next we headed back to Sanbusho, Marudo and the others did kanri while I picked out Asagi tosai. We locked up and headed to Muikaichi to do the same. Tonight Keiko's cousin e-mailed her and told her she wanted to see what I looked like. So Keiko took a picture of me and e-mailed it to her cousin Tei with her cell phone. Tei e-mailed back and said," Chou Kawai!" which is slang for cute. Me,"Chou kawai, is that a compliment? Great now Marudo's family is going to give me heat for this. And they did, for the rest of the night too. Why didn't she say Chou Kakkoi (cool person) instead?" With people wanting to see pictures of me it led to Marudo's family wanting to see a picture of my mom. They have met my father and older brother, and I have shown them pictures of my younger brother. But they have never seen what my mom looks like. So they asked if I had any pictures of my mom, and I searched all over my computer and I don't have any. But I found a video with her in it and showed it to them.

3-31-07 This morning beside doing Kanri we headed back to Nigoro to finish catching and moving the rest of the fish that would fit into the transport tank yesterday. Toshihiro & Shinji bought the fish to the mud pond while Takuya, Marudo & I picked tosai at Nigoro & Sanbusho. After picking tosai we did kanri and packed a couple boxes of tosai. After lunch Toshi, Takuya, Shinji & I gathered some supplies then head to the coop area set up for breeders after the earthquake to put up preditor fencing on the three pond Marudo has there. We reset the post and restrung the main wire connecting the posts together. And next we cleaned up any of the cross wires that broke during the winter. Then we head back to Sanbusho to pack a box of tosai. Then we did kanri and locked up for the night at both Muikaichi and Sanbusho.