Back to Japan for the Koi Fall Harvest!
Apr 22nd 2024
From October 16th- November 16th Fitz and the FFP Team traveled back to Japan for the Fall Harvest. Ryan Cardillo returned back for his third trip and AJ Mandell went for the first time. It was an amazing experience for the team to go back into the mountains and experience it like it was pre-covid times. Although there was an intimacy in getting individual attention with the breeders during Covid, it was great to see the mountains buzzing again.
"Seeing the excitement in the customers faces during the mud pond harvest and when we visited some of the biggest koi facilities in the world, reminds me of my first time in Japan and it is a great feeling knowing we are able to provide this experience for our customers."
We had 15 customers make the journey from the US all the way to Japan with more than two ⅔ being their first trip. Not only did the team and the customers have a great time in the mud ponds and visiting some of the largest koi facilities in the word, but they had a great time experiencing all Japan has to offer with their great restaurants, steak houses and of course fantastic sushi.
During this trip we visited over 20 breeders, each specializing in a different breed of koi and harvested over 6 Mud Ponds. Some of the breeders we visited were: Shintaro, Marudo, Hiroseji, Ikarashi, Sekiguchi, Marusei, Maruhiro, Marusho, Yamasan, Hiroi, Koda, Kase, Shinoda, Marusada, Iwashita, Torazo, Hirashin and more. 
We want to thank all of the breeders and customers who came out and also give a special thank you to Saito San from Shintaro Koi Farm who makes this entire Japan trip possible. Another huge thank you to Tim Waddington from Quality Nishikigoi who is our partner from the UK. We also want to thank you to all who followed the trip back home on the Discord Channel and our other Social Media channels (Instagram, TikTok, Youtube, Facebook). We hope you enjoyed some of the great deals posted and continue to engage more as we share more about the koi we bought while in Japan. If you haven’t joined the discord yet, be sure to do so by clicking HERE!
This trip we sold and sourced some of the nicest koi in the entire world for our customers. Some customers took advantage of 'Azukari' while in Japan. This translates to ‘under custody’ or ‘under supervision’. Essentially these customers bought koi that will be left in the care of the breeder or dealer in Japan. The customers will be able to go back in the future to harvest the koi they bought and see how much it grows. We also sourced smaller koi and some large koi up to 105cm. That koi actually won the award for jumbo koi at the Nogyosai Koi Show which is really exciting.
The team was in Japan for approximately a month and now the paperwork begins, ensuring all Koi that are bought and sold are documented and which Koi are being shipped home and which koi are staying in Japan for another growing season all needs to be sorted out. Back at the FFP Farm this means we need to start prepping for the next shipment to come in.
The koi bought from this trip will be put on our website within the next few weeks and will be available to reserve. The shipment will come into our farm sometime in January and another shipment in early February. They will then be quarantined until they are ready to go. At FFP we have our own greenhouse dedicated to quarantining fish from a new shipment so the koi can be monitored and well rested.
FFP is also excited to share that KoiTrips is back up and running in full swing. Now that Japan has opened its borders we are looking forward to helping more customers travel with us to Japan. If you are interested in a buying trip to Japan visit the website Koitrips.com.
