The snow shows no sign of letting up.

Before going anywhere first task of the morning was to clear the car of the morning's snow.

It was with some disappointment that my day started with a visit to the newly opened Yamada Denki electrical store.  The Nagaoka branch stocks lots of cool stuff, the Ojiya branch is extremely boring.  By this I mean camera and computer equipment are almost non-existent.

I headed up to Yamakoshi where the snow had continued to fall for probably the whole 24 hours since I visited yesterday and made this video - http://www.niigata-nishikigoi.com/node/1482.

This video shows the difference between yesterday and today.

The above video stops at Shintaro because I stopped in for coffee.

As I sat there the snow continued to fall, no surprise there.

Heading home it was several hours since the clearing machines had serviced the road back towards Yamanaka and Nagashima Gas Station.  Carving through around 25cm of snow I made my way down, you can see what it was like in the video below.

I've been asked to show some more 'normal speed' footage of driving around the mountains to show the scenery.  Tomorrow I'll try and get some nice scenic drives.

For those craving Koi, it's just a few days until the All Japan coverage starts and you'll be overloaded with Koi - http://www.niigata-nishikigoi.com/node/1480.

Video shot driving from Ojiya to Yamakoshi, and back again, sped up by 10x

If anyone can identify any songs played during the video on the car's audio player you may get a prize!

Guess exactly what I ordered at the end of the video and you may win a bumper prize!

The snow really has returned with a vengeance, if you are are coming in the next week or so be prepared!

My morning started with clearing another 25cm from the car that had fallen in around 7 hours so i could get to Dainichi to photograph a Koi for the cover of a forthcoming Rinko issue.

The snow hasn't relented and within a few hours the car needs cleaning before it can be driven safely.

There was some talk yesterday about how it compared to last year.  As yet the accumulated snow isn't as great, if it continues for a couple of days then it will be getting close.

Last year I made a video driving around in the snow - http://www.niigata-nishikigoi.com/node/1097 - I did similar today, it's rendering and I will upload soon.

In the meantime some stills to show what it was like driving around....

Crossing the Shinano River towards Ojiya Station, no sign of the mountains.

Ojiya Station..

Entering Mushigame, Ikarashi Kazuto on the left.

Heading out of the village

Since being back it's not stopped snowing and again there were another 20-25cm of snow on car within a few hours.

In just 7 days our annual coverage of the All Japan Show will have started, I'll be arriving in Tokyo next wednesday, the final day of set up, bringing a preview of likely candidates for the Grand Champion prize.

The pic above was posted by Masayuki Sekiguchi on Facebook, by far the best show poster pic I could find!

This year's show promises to be busier than any other what with Rinko commitments and a couple of other projects lined up, more of which later.  As such I new I'd be stretched to complete it all personally, anyway I knew the person to call on, me old mate Steve Gibbins (aka Gibbo), of Koi Tours (www.koitours.com / www.koi-media.com), who will be soaking up a load of the photo work for me.  This year there are another 2 classes of winners at the show making around 100 winning Koi to photograph.

Every year sees an ever increasing number of visitors through the site over the All Japan Show weekend with visitors coming from far and wide making it a ideal time to promote your business on these pages.  Taking a 3 month advert now would encompass the All Japan and Wakagoi shows, another hugely busy time for site visitors.

Our fullest All Japan Koi Show coverage will appear in Nishikigoi Digest - http://www.niigata-nishikigoi.com/node/1476 - out at the end of February making it a must read for Koi hobbyists around the world.  If you are interested in taking an advert in Nishikigoi Digest again please don't hesitate to get in contact.