Customers and Suppliers Grew Through “Drinking Parties”
Overseas Sales Rise After Joining the Guideline List

― You came into this industry knowing nothing about Nishikigoi, yet you have a very wide network, including your suppliers. How did you learn to judge koi through your relationships with well-known dealers?
Uemori: At first, I tagged along when Mr. Kinjo and Ryuki made their rounds in Niigata. I also helped out at Narita Koi Farm’s events, so I got to see koi from many different places. I think that helped a lot.
― I’m sure that environment trained your eye. You must also keep customers’ koi—did you learn husbandry skills along the way too?
Uemori: I don’t know if I have any real skill… When I was helping out at Narita Koi Farm, I’d ask Mr. Yamamoto. I often ask Mr. Yamaguchi too, through the Narita connection, and I’m on good terms with Mr. Sakamaki, so I’ll ask things like, “What do you use in a situation like this?” When I really don’t know something, I ask right away, and people are generally happy to teach me.
― This industry does have those horizontal connections. You mentioned you breed a few of your own, but basically it’s almost all buying and selling, right?
Uemori: Over 90%.
― Do you mainly sell online?
Uemori: In Japan, it’s almost all online and through our official LINE account. Also, a lot of people come by here, and recently more foreigners have been coming to look.

― It’s a great location at the entrance to “Nishikigoi Ginza” (the stretch of Ojiya lined with koi farms). Looking at your record as a handler at koi shows, you certainly have many overseas customers. How did those relationships grow?
Uemori: Drinking parties (laughs). From the beginning, people invited me to all sorts of gatherings. That’s how I got to know Samurai (Samurai Koi Centre), and they’ve been very good to me. The very first koi I introduced to them became the Adult Champion at the All Japan Show.
― Ah, the male Taisho Sanshoku from Kondo that has won major awards many times.
Uemori: That was the very first koi I introduced to Samurai. I dropped by Mr. Kondo’s to look around and thought it was a good koi, and then Ryuki bought it and decided to put it in an event.
― And then you bought it at Narita Koi Farm’s event.
Uemori: Right. I introduced it to Samurai in the fall, they bought it, and it won Adult Champion the very first time. It’s a koi I have really fond memories of. I’d thought winning a division at the All Japan Show was something that might happen once in a lifetime, if ever.
― It won Adult Champion again the following year, and the Kokugyo Prize at the Young Koi Show too. Results like that earned you their trust.
Uemori: I think so. My prize-winning rate is fairly good, too.
― What percentage of your sales is overseas now?
Uemori: About 70%, I’d say. For example, if I buy in 100 Tosai, foreign buyers pick out quite a few, and I put the rest on Yahoo! Auctions. Of course, I also set aside some of the better ones at the start and put those on Yahoo! Auctions. Honestly, though, the easiest thing is to have them pick out a batch and ship it all at once.

― When you buy, do you already have a sense of how many you can sell?
Uemori: I think about whether I could sell them all in Japan in the end. If I buy a lot of Kawarimono, foreign buyers might pick them up, but if any are left over, they’d be hard to sell in Japan. So the first thing I consider is not being left with stock.
― In Japan, your performance at the Tohoku-Hokkaido District Show stands out. You’ve handled the Grand Champion three years in a row.
Uemori: Next year will be the 50th Tohoku show, so I want to win that one. But for the Tohoku Young Koi Show (held on June 7, after this interview), I don’t have any fish right now. I’m wondering what to do (laughs). (*In the end, Koi Bokujo handled the Grand Champion.) On top of that, there’s the WNC Japan Koi Cup in Hiroshima, so I’m going to the Hokkaido show (May 17), then Hiroshima (May 24), and then Tohoku. I need to prepare about 100 fish in total, and I don’t have the koi (laughs).
― You’re normally based in Niigata, yet you take part in the Hokkaido show, the Tohoku-Hokkaido District Show, and shows across Japan—that must be tough. I have the impression the level of the Tohoku-Hokkaido District shows has risen a lot since Koi Bokujo joined the Association. You also contribute a lot in terms of the number of entries.
Uemori: I try to bring at least 20 fish. But overseas customers and people from other districts can’t enter, so there are some difficulties.
― How many suppliers do you have now?
Uemori: In Niigata, I deal with pretty much all the main ones. In Hiroshima, a lot of Tosai from Sakai are coming in right now. Kotaro (Mr. Kotaro Sakai) is about my age, so we often travel overseas together. I’d say the most come from Dainichi and Sakai. Dainichi sometimes brings a whole truckload of the lower-grade fish that would otherwise go to auction.
― Then you’ll need to expand your ponds a bit, or you’ll run out of room.
Uemori: I’d also like more people. I think I’m at the limit of what one person can do right now.
― Are your sales steadily increasing?
Uemori: Yes. We got on the Guideline List (the list of facilities under the guidelines for issuing health certificates for exported Nishikigoi) last fall, and overseas shipments have increased again since then.