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.

Have you been to the Portland Japanese Garden recently? If not, come and see some of the beautiful renovations that are taking place. To add color to this, The Japanese Garden is planning to bring some new koi into the pond. In the winter of 2008 The Japanese Garden lost some of the koi that were in the pond due to heavy snow and freezing temperatures. After this incident The Japanese Garden has taken some intuitive effort in bring some koi from Japan. So many people have donated so generously to make this come true.

Koi TV® is proud to present a new weekly video episode "Lets talk Koi" by Mamoru Kodama. Each week Mamoru San will pick a koi from Kodama Koi Farm and talk about its quality. I hope we all can learn from this. Mamoru Kodama is one of the Koi superstars in the Koi hobby. There is a lot of things to talk about him. Eventhough, I am not able to talk about everything he had done to Koi Hobby, but here is some. He is the founding chairman of Miyoshiike (Japan) & Kodama Koi Farm (USA). He is a reputable Koi dealer, Koi expert and a well-known author of many Koi books like Kokugyo I, Kokugyo II and Koishi. He is also a contributor to KOI USA magazine. Over the past 45 years, Mamoru San has estibalished an excellent relationship with the Koi breeders, Koi dealers and Koi hobbyists in Japan, USA and many parts of the World. His eye for selecting koi is appreciated by many koi hobbyists around the world, especially in USA through Kodama Koi Farm. Together with his son, Taro Kodama, he established Kodama Koi Academy.