Japan Koi buying trips before Covid-19 pandemic

Covid-19 which started November/December 2019 has created a massive setback for all industries and the Koi industry is no exception. Prior to 2020, we made 3 buying trips, one to Niigata and two to Ogata Koi Farm in Fukuoka, Kyushu.
 
2020 with no chance to travel due to lockdowns we had no choice but to place orders and shipped koi in at a much higher cost. My hope is come October 2021 we get a chance to visit Japan again to bring in bigger shipments and carry out a reset of our koi collection.
 
(1) November 2019 - Niigata
 
           
          Selecting Tamasaba with light drizzle                  Visited Isa Koi farm which is famous for its Showa 
                                                                                       (Note: Immediately after viewing the whole pond
                                                                                        of nearly 2 thousand baby Showa was sold out)   
 
  
(2)  October 2019 - Ogata Koi Farm
 
       
              Selecting baby koi supported by                                 Selected many 2-year old koi too!  
                      Ogata Koi Farm staff  
 
 
 
(3)  August 2019 - Ogata Koi Farm
 
Over the past 10 over years of buying koi in Japan, never before have we bought during the month of August. Visited Ogata Koi Farm in August 2019 for a special reason - invited by Ogata Koi Farm as for the first time they started to breed koi earlier than usual and have small baby koi for sale as early as August/September! Shipped some 3 to 4 inches over and they were well received by customers.