KYOTO -- Some adventurers explore shipwrecks for lost treasure. Jay Gregg makes a living "uncovering" treasure simply by recognizing it before anyone else does.
Gregg, an antique exporter based in Kyoto, began his business when he arrived in Japan in 1980. His sister-in-law had asked him for a kimono. "I got her one for $20, and I thought, 'An all-silk kimono for $20? That's a good deal!' So I started buying up kimono," the Colorado native says.
Nowadays the stakes are higher. "Japanese baskets go for up to $24,000 in the U.S., and you can buy them for about 90,000 yen here. Last year baskets were the thing, the year before that it was bronze okimono [figurines]," he explains. "Things go in waves. Sometimes you can't give something away, and then another time you can't get enough of it."