February 12 | 13 | 14 | 15a > b| 16 | 17 | 18

February 15th
We started the day by visiting one of the greenhouses where Kase keeps Koi.

Sean and Carl look at a beautiful Doitsu Showa just purchased from Kase Koi Farm

Walking between greenhouses, we often see breathtaking views - and occasionally interesting ways of dealing with the massive amounts of snow in Niigata winters. Trees, especially valuable ones must be protected to keep from breaking. They use - what else - bamboo!

Some of the beautiful metallic babies Kase is famous for. These are definitely drool-inducing eye-candy!

Hoshino-san, Kase-san and Carl sort through miriads of tosai using a net cage.

Carl photographing a bowl of tosai.

Gymnastic training on the balance beam would definitely help when looking through the greenhouses. You have to be careful not to get too excited about the fish, and take a step backwards...

Yup - Niigata in winter is one picture postcard after another! Scenes from Hosokai's back yard.