Few years ago we had a major winter storm here in Portland, Oregon. Most families in Portland were stuck at home beacause of the snow, during that winter The Portland Japanese Garden lost majority of their koi collection. Employees of Japanese Garden were not able to open or do any maintainence which was required to save the koi, for almost two weeks. That horrible disaster made Japanese Garden think of alternatives to keep the koi alive. A Japanese Garden is not complete without these living jewels. Koi (colors of water.) The board fo directors and the management committee conducted a fundraiser to renovate the garden and to bring new koi from Japan. In Japanese culture pond and koi has very important value to it. The belief is that the koi represent the dragon and bring prosperity and charm to the family and friends. The campaign will help the Japanese Garden regain their collection of koi and keep them healthy. The renovation project took almost two years to complete. The renovation project was lead by specialists in koi hobby. All Japan Koi dealer Mr. Tony Prew is one of these specialist in Portland, Oregon. Mr. Prew took the renovation project at the Portland Japanese Garden. The Japanese Garden allowed all their sponsor's to name their koi. As a result to that, most of their new koi are named.

Kids love animals and birds. They like to grow them as their pet. The only pet in our house is koi. So Antony and I thought we will buy at least a koi for each kid. They get to name them and grow them. Once when we were attending Pan Intercorp live koi auction at Kenmore, Washington, our kids participated in that with our permission. Our oldest son Nikhil bought his first koi for 10 cents. It was a koi that was one and a half inch. We brought them over and trained Nikhil to take care of his koi. Nikhil was happy to have his own koi in the pond. During the summer he would make sure to feed the koi and change the water. He was really excited so much that he wanted to feed the koi every few hours. During the winter Nikhil was so worried that his fish might get cold and get sick.

Living in Portland, Oregon and very close to The Japanese Garden we often get the opportunity to enjoy the divinity and peacefulness of the garden. We are frequent visitors to the garden, since Antony and I got married. During our early visits there were lots of Koi, belonging to The Japanese Garden. Koi helped to bring out the ethnic beauty of the Japanese culture. Because of the unexpected winter in 2008, The Japanese Garden lost its 90 percent of the koi. Now there are only few koi in the pond.