Mr. Hisashi Yanase

He was a Japanese citizen. He was a frequent traveler to Sri Lanka. Business was not the main reason why he came to Sri Lanka. It was golf. He was a great golfer. Colombo Royal golf club was his main attraction. Even before my father came to know him, he had visited Sri Lanka for more than 14 times.

My father met him for the first time at the Golf Club. He was a businessman or an investor to be precise. He had business ventures back in Japan as well. The idea about starting a prawn farm as a Japanese collaboration was welcomed by him eagerly.

As a start Indiwary Aqua (Pvt) Ltd was set up as a BOI venture. Mr. Yanase acted as the Chairman; my father was the Managing Director and mother being the sole Directress.

During the same period a prawn farming facility was put on action by the government. It was a model prawn farm developed using the funds of Asia Development Bank (ADB) for inland fisheries. Thus it was the most ideal location identified those days for prawn farming. The facility comprised of all the facilities & equipment required to carry out a quality farming operation. My father’s bid for the tender turned out to be the highest. The bid was a thumping amount of Rs. 66Mn at that time. Further in order to bring the facility which was closed down for quite some time they spent more than another Rs. 40Mn.

I can still remember how the jungles were cleaned using heavy vehicle machinery. After the lapse of about 4 months the farm was ready for stocking for the first time.

The first 2 cycles were extremely successful. The prawns grew for a record size of more than 45g. There was a very high harvest and it went in headlines in newspapers. Mr. Yanase was very happy on the progress of his investment and there was a great relationship developing between him and our family.

He was like a grandfather to us. Every time when we heard that he is coming to Sri Lanka we eagerly await till that day. It’s a great joy for him to take hundreds of photographs of our family in different times.