Review of my JAPAN trip!

What an amazing experience!  So grateful to have been able to spend two weeks in Japan and attend the 2019 All Japan Ranchu Show!  Truly a life goal for me was to attend this show!  And I got to meet MANY amazing ranchu breeders and also visit 4 very different ranchu farms. It's really easy to be an American in Tokyo!  The subway is a super efficient and cheap way to get around.  Using google maps made it a breeze to navigate the complex system of trains and subways.  In the main zones of Tokyo the signage is all in English as well as other languages!  Google translate has a 'camera' feature that translates whatever you point the phone at in real time.  Many Japanese people speak some English.  Lots of factors played into making it a really enjoyable trip!

Here we are about to Leave LAX for NRT Tokyo.  From the left: Travis Barron the Filmmaker, my Son, me, my wife Heather and Caleb Coppock the Film Director.

Just arrived in Tokyo!  This is at Shibuya Crossing, a very famous location in Tokyo and known as the busiest intersection in the world!  It's a very fun international district of Tokyo with lots of shopping and restaurants.

We arrived several days early so we had time to get acclimated to Tokyo before all the important filming for the documentary, farm visits and of course the Ranchu Show!

This is the delicious breakfast provided each day at our amazing hostel TURN TABLE is Shibuya, Tokyo!  YUM!

 Oom from Thailand was super generous to take me to visit many ranchu breeders!  THANKS OOM!  You made the trip so amazing!

 Tokyo Breeder Visit: TAKAHASHI SAN

 The first farm visit was to 3rd generation ranchu breeder Takahashi San!  He has a website full of very important and useful information here: https://ameblo.jp/takahashi-ranchu/
Takahashi San is currently the Vice President of the Nichiran Ranchu Association: https://nichiran.net/

It was a real treat to hang out with Mr. Takahashi for an afternoon!  He showed us which ranchu he was taking to the All Japan Ranchu Show, which ranchu were for his breeding stock next year and shared a lot of great advice.  Also he asked if we have ranchu spawns here in America and I was glad to respond that there are a handful of us here in the US that have ranchu spawns.

 THANK YOU Takahashi San for so generously opening up your home and ponds for us to visit and learn!  For many many years I have dreamed  of visiting a famous ranchu breeder in Japan and you made that happen!

Then we all went out for an awesome sushi dinner and sang karaoke, because what else does one do when in JAPAN?!

ALL JAPAN RANCHU SHOW 2019

 

Finally the day of the All Japan Ranchu Show had arrived and we were greeted by Takahashi San when we arrived.  For many years I have dreamed of this day and it was really thrilling to meet so many famous ranchu breeders and see the most amazing ranchu in the world!

It's like a big family reunion at the AJRS when breeders from all over Japan converge at the show and get to see their friends again!

This is the holding tank for the tosai.  The helpers with the yellow arm bands are carefully bringing the ranchu one by one thru the judging station.

The judges of the Tosai class are hard at work.  This is by far the largest and most popular class with many hundreds of entries.  The well respected Kawaii San from Mishima is one of the judges (he is facing the camera here) and a few days after this I was invited to visit his ranchu greenhouse in Mishima, near Mt. Fuji.

After the first round of judging the ranchu are sorted into these green ponds based on their scores.  Soon the top place ranchu will be judged again to receive their final placement.

OYA CLASS

                                        

The Oya class is super impressive!  These are the oldest and largest ranchu entered in the competition.  I was struck by how large they can grow their ranchu in Japan!  An amazing accomplishment for sure.  The OYA class has the fewest entries as it is super difficult to grow a ranchu for several years and have it still retail show quality.

Here are the winners of the Oya class being placed into the show bowls.  The judging for the Oya class is finished before the nisai and tosai classes because it's the smallest class.  There was a lot of anticipation leading up to this moment, the moment when the first ranchu are placed into the show bowls after many hours of judging is concluded.

This was a very special day as Takeuchi San won the title of Yokozuna!  This means that a single ranchu of his was a winner as tosai, nisai and oya!  This is extraordinarily rare and Takeuchi San is only the 6th person ever to accomplish this!  He received many congratulations all thru the afternoon from the other ranchu breeders and fans!  On this day his ranchu placed 2nd in the Oya class which is considered as one of the winners, thus bestowing the title of Yokozuna.

Above you can see the top winners of the Oya class, 1st thru 5th place

Above you can see the 7th thru 16th place winners in the Oya class

NISAI CLASS 1st thru 16th

TOSAI CLASS  1st thru 8th

Review of the 2019 AJRS in Photos:

Jayson Tanega from Hawaii

 

Boss Ranchu from Thailand waiting for the Oya to be placed.

Nisai Bowls waiting for the ranchu to be placed

Travis Baron the Filmmaker 

Tosai in the holding pond waiting for the first round of judging

It was a huge honor to meet this very famous ranchu breeder Hiroshi Ando!  Here I am being introduced to Ando San by my new friend Haru San who was a very helpful translator and guide during the day of the All Japan Ranchu Show.  I gifted one of the glass bowls that I make to Ando San.

  Road Trip to Mishima!

Now we get to head to the Mt. Fuji area to visit several very famous breeders!  It was nice to get out of Tokyo and see the countryside.  The Japanese drive on the left so there was a bit of a learning curve.  Fortunately our AMAZING guide Eiko took the wheel to get us out of the heart of Tokyo. 

Got to learn how to drive on the left!  By the 2nd day it was no problem.

Ocean side highway

Airbnb nearby Mishima

 We were treated to 3 days of clear views of Mt. Fuji.  This is very rare as the mountain is typically 'sleeping' (covered in clouds)

Had a ton of fun visiting a Japanese grocery store!  YUM!  We made out own sushi dinner with tuna, octopus, pike, flounder, crab, aji, tobiko and more!  It was fun to experience a typical grocery.

 Mishima Breeder Visits: KAWAII SAN

Kawaii San has a beautiful rooftop greenhouse in Mishima.  He makes efficient use of space and I find this to be a great example of urban ranchu keeping: To effectively keep ranchu in a compact space while still using traditional methods.

Many thanks to Kawaii San for the generous invitation to see your ranchu!  It is a big honor for me to see and learn about your ranchu!

 Mishima Breeder Visits: KAWAGUCHI SAN

Kawaguchi San grows some amazing ranchu too!  He has a large farm with many greenhouses and outdoor ponds too.  Mr. Kawaguchi also owns an awesome goldfish store in Mishima! 

It was a real treat to visit Kawaguchi San's goldfish shop in Mishima!  There were so many cool things to see!  It was difficult to control myself because there were so many things I wanted to get!  I bought some cool and rare (in the USA) fry food and adult foods.  Of course I got a huge variety of nets both long handled adult nets, short handle adult nets, fry and BBR nets and even a specialty brine shrimp net. 

Fry and BBR sorting nets from Mishima

Thank you Kawaguchi San for inviting us to see your ranchu and visit your store! 

 Such an amazing trip! with an terrific group of people!  It was the honor of a lifetime! Starting in the back row: me, Richard Lim, store employee, Kawaguchi San, Kawaii San and my wife Heather.  Front row: John Lim, Oom, Ang, and Ozawa San.

Then we all shared a lunch at a delicious Unagi Grill and enjoyed a traditional private room in the tatami mat style!

 Mishima Breeder Visits: OZAWA SAN

 Ozawa San has a top rate ranchu house!  His ranchu are very modern and cutting edge!  My head was swimming with all the high quality ranchu to look at.  Truthfully, it was too much to take in all at once.

I would like to send a giant THANK YOU to Ozawa San for spending the day with us and bringing us into his ranchu house.  It was a real treat to learn from the Grandmasters such as yourself.  I hope to continually improve my own ranchu and your generosity helped towards that goal.

Time to head back to Tokyo:

Lunch by the ocean! 

  

We received the most amazing upgrade to the Terrace Suite at the TURN TABLE in Shibuya, Tokyo!  This was a fun way to wind down the trip.  Feeling blessed!

Our guide Eiko was wonderful!  She made everything easy and fun and she fit into our group like an old friend!  THANK YOU EIKO!

On our final full day in Japan I had the unique privilege of meeting Mori San!  He is the photographer and publisher for the Nichiran organization. Chances are you have seen his photos of the ranchu presented at the All Japan Ranchu Show.  We chatted for several hours about the history of ranchu and also current events in ranchu.  

I asked Mori San to sign my copy of the 2018 book he published for the AJRS.

So much good food and good friends in Japan!

I received a special gift from Mori San: a collection of many of the books he has published over the years covering ranchu in Japan, all goldfish varieties in Japan, Chinese goldfish and also some yearly publications for various goldfish clubs in Japan including ranchu and azuma nishiki.  THANK YOU MORI SAN!

Our flight didn't leave Tokyo until late in the evening so we had a relaxing last day exploring the Harajuku neighborhood.

Happened upon this beautiful Temple and koi pond in the middle of the bustling Harajuku neighborhood.  These quite moments at the Harajuku Temple gave me the opportunity to reflect on the magnitude of this experience.  We're feeling so fortunate for all the amazing experiences and also all the new friends we made.  Japan and all the people were so welcoming!  It was truly the honor of a lifetime!

 OK so this wraps up the summary of our trip to Japan.  I want to take a moment to thank so many enthusiastic American ranchu keepers that helped send me on this trip!  Your support was instrumental in making it possible!  THANK YOU!  I am currently in discussions with several famous breeders in Japan to arrange bringing baby ranchu into the USA this spring.  I hope we will all benefit from these new and exciting ranchu!

Ready for Japan!

We leave for Japan in less than 12 hours!  Super excited!  BIG THANKS to everyone for the massive support to send me!  The sale was a bigger success than I ever imagined.  We will be in Tokyo for a week visting breeders and attending the Nichiran show and then we will be heading to the Mt Fuji area to visit more breeders.   I will be posting regular updates through out the trip on my instagram: @j.thompson.ranchu