{"id":84204,"date":"2026-10-02T22:18:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T20:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dainichi-europe.de\/magazin-dainichi\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T15:20:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T13:20:37","slug":"magazin-dainichi","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.dainichi-europe.de\/en\/magazin-dainichi\/","title":{"rendered":"Dainichi"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n <\/span>\u4ef2\u9593<\/span>nakama<\/span>\n <\/div>\n
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\u201cWho are you, anyway?\u201d<\/h1>\n

I didn't come to the Dainichi Koi Farm as a customer, but as a harvest helper. Two weeks turned into many years.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n

Hirata, Dainichi's foreman at the time.<\/p>\n

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en<\/span>\u7e01<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

A young Dutchman<\/h2>\n

At the time, a very young European was working at Dainichi: Bram. He was studying aquaculture in Wageningen and spent his nine-month internship on the farm. In his last week we got to know each other better, and he asked me whether I could drive him around the area a little.<\/p>\n

I had a Japanese driving licence and some free time. For years I had accompanied German dealers on their buying trips through Japan, as driver and interpreter, from breeder to breeder, right through to the freight and handing out the koi boxes at Frankfurt Airport. The next of these trips didn't start for another fortnight. So we set off at the weekend. I showed Bram other breeders too, and we helped them with their harvests. Smaller breeders perhaps appreciate that even more than the very large farms.<\/p>\n

Then Bram asked: on Monday he would be harvesting a big pond of large Kohaku together with Hirata, the foreman. Did I fancy helping? Of course, obviously.<\/p>\n

\n \"Bram
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Bram at the Kohaku harvest. In the first picture, Hirata stands at the net in the background.<\/figcaption><\/div>\n

I knew how to handle the seine net and large fish from Torazo; the routines were familiar. It worked brilliantly. The next day I was there again, and the day after that. Then Bram's internship ended, but I stayed: every morning over to Dainichi, assigned by Hirata, onto the trucks, at the ponds. I made friends with the staff along the way.<\/p>\n

Bram's last week as an intern turned into a friendship. To this day he is one of my best friends, and there is hardly anyone I enjoy exchanging ideas with more. Today he is production manager at Kingfish Zeeland in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

\"Bram
Bram today, in the control room at Kingfish Zeeland, January 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
More about Bram<\/a><\/div>\n
shinrai<\/span>\u4fe1\u983c<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

After a fortnight<\/h2>\n

After those fourteen days, Shigeru and Futoshi Mano stood in front of me: \"Who are you, anyway? And what makes you come and help us every day? You're doing a great job. Look, we're going to give you something for it.\" I was given a two-year-old fish, a Nisai.<\/p>\n

And an invitation: if I had time again the following year \u2013 the harvest started on 15 October \u2013 would I join in for six weeks? That's exactly what I did, and for years afterwards. I tried to make myself more and more indispensable, and it worked. That's how the relationship came about.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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15.10.\u201315.11.<\/div>\n

This was when the ponds at Dainichi were harvested.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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6 weeks<\/div>\n

That's how long I was to help in the second year, and that's how I did it for years afterwards.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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\"Lunch
Lunch on the farm.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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When the dining room becomes a dormitory<\/h2>\n

At half past five we went out to the ponds, then together to the main house for breakfast, back out again, and back at midday to eat. After lunch there was an hour's break, and the whole dining room turned into a dormitory. The Japanese lay down on the floor, and so did I, sometimes next to Shigeru, among the staff.<\/p>\n

That really is an extraordinary feeling of closeness and familiarity.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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\"That's how you become one of them.\"<\/p>\n