Page 53 - Koi Net - On-Line Koi Magazine - Issue 68

By the end of the 1990s I wanted to live full time in I was sponsored by Sakai san (Yamamatsu Koi Farm),
Ojiya and work with the breeders. In 1994 Mano san of
BY THE END Izumiya Koi Farm sat me down at his home (at that time
OF THE 1990s he was the Chairman of the Shinkokai Association here
in Niigata) and asked me to help in promoting the
I WANTED TO breeders of Niigata more around the world. So it was
LIVE FULL from that point I started writing articles (seems that I
still am) and doing all I could to help promote them. I
TIME IN OJIYA brought Nik and Maria Read of Newvision Videos fame
to Niigata, they had been making koi videos back in the
UK and they were the perfect choice to help. Over the
next few years I got them to film the acclaimed Koi
Trilogy series and even to this day, 30 years later in 2024,
Nik works with me on KoiVision TV and other projects.
In 1998 I started TMI (Tewin Mill International) with our
own holding and packing station based in Koshijimachi
which was close to the breeders of Aoki and Kase. Over
the next few years we shipped between 5,000 to 7,000
boxes of koi a year around the world. In 1999 I was
Tewin Mill Fish Farm in
the 1990s. allowed to live in the old school house in Mushigame.
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Tanaka san (Maruju Koi Farm), the late Kazuto san
THIS WAS A (Ikarashi Koi Farm) and the Mayor of Mushigame, the
FANTASTIC late Nagashima san (who later became a well-respected
politician in the Japanese Government). This was a
TIME FOR MY fantastic time for my customers as the house had eight
CUSTOMERS bedrooms, so they could all stay with me in the heart
of Mushigame and walk to many of the koi breeders’
AS THE HOUSE facilities while they were there. We also had many
HAD EIGHT dinner parties with customers and breeders.
BEDROOMS While customers were coming to Japan during this
period, I was also inviting breeders to the UK, and for
many of them it was their first time to leave Japan. A
very young Manabu Yamasaki of Yamasan Koi Farm
and then a young Shigeyoshi Tanaka of Maruju Koi
Farm both came to my company in the UK to work and
learn English for one year, before returning back to
their family business’s and help their business’s
develop and grow as they were able to talk to future
customers in English.
The welcoming sign as you
enter Mushigame translates
as ‘Nishikigoi’s Hometown’.
Martin with Shigeyoshi
Tanaka of Maruju Koi
Farm. Shigeyoshi spent a
year in the UK with me
learning English.
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