If you've followed this site for a while you'll have seen pictures of the large fireworks displays that take place annually in Ojiya and Nagaoka in August.

Tomorrow sees the first of the big local displays, one I've not visited previously but will be going to tomorrow evening, in the seaside town of Kashiwazaki, about 20km away from Ojiya.

The video below is one of many that appear on Youtube of the Kashiwazaki fireworks.

No, I haven't realised my dream of flying over Yamakoshi by plane, helicopter nor hot air balloon yet.

However, I did find a pretty cool site which gives a 'virtual' flight.

I've been using a site called MapMyRide.com to record my cycle rides, it also has a pretty neat feature utilising Google maps to generate 3D interactive maps of routes you plot.

The map below takes you from Nagaoka station to Nishikigoi no Sato, via Yamakoshi.  Sadly the image quality in Ojiya and Yamakoshi isn't as high as Nagaoka, hopefully one day Google will increase the resolution.

I headed out on my bike late yesterday morning to find some Koi action.  As I stepped out of the door it was like walking into a furnace, you can see the current weather here - http://www.niigata-nishikigoi.com/node/131 - thankfully it seems it's going to cool a little over the coming days.

It amazes me how the weather here can be so extreme, metres of snow in winter, just 3 months ago we still had snow, and now 30+ degrees centigrade.

I headed the mile or so to the area of land just by the expressway interchange where many breeders have mud ponds, amongst them Hiroi, Oya, Isa, Torazo and Mano.

When I arrived the only person who seemed to be about in the midday sun was Taro Kataoka who had just finished the 1st cull of some Sanke.  Following a quick chat with Taro and Takehiro Furuya, who was also there, Taro advised that Isa were culling at the fry ponds where they undertake all of their spawning - http://www.niigata-nishikigoi.com/node/412 - so it was back on the bike to head out there.

Hajime and Mitsunori Isa, Hide Hirasawa and Sato san, some who can often be found helping with the early culling at Isa, were busy sorting through Sanke fry as well.  Takehiro, the person standing, had also made his way to Isa to make some video.

Below Hajime Isa flicks a 'keeper' into the white holding net at the end.

As the cull neared completion it was out into the full heat of the day to net another pond for Mitsunori and Hide, hard work in 30+ degree heat.

Meanwhile Hajime Isa and Sato san returned the keepers to an adjacent pond to grow for another couple of weeks before they are sorted again.

The 3 pictures below show the range of different types of fry generated from a Sanke spawning.  The individuals in the net in each picture being keepers, there are probably only 5 or 6 keepers across the 3 photographs.

These mountains seem to contain rather more biting insects than Yamakoshi, I can't for the life of me recall what they are called.  Tiny in size the first you know you've been bitten is a small speck of blood on the skin.  New English phrase of the day was 'drama queen', applied to Hide who made an incredible amount of fuss about the bite (arrowed) on his toe in the minutes after it was delivered.