The mysterious death of over 20 million Akoya pearl oysters in Ehime, Mie and other prefectures this summer is expected to hobble pearl production next year and beyond. While the cause of the die-off is unclear, oyster producers have started taking steps to minimize the ...
Japan's cultured pearl farms still glisten, despite fears industry will fall victim to aging society
In picturesque Ago Bay, a couple sit in a little hut picking out oysters from a net, cleaning them carefully one-by-one before placing them gently back in the water. Their hope: in several months, these oysters will produce a glistening white pearl from a cultured ...
The Shima Peninsula, where life is built on oysters and seafood
Shima Peninsula may be most famous for pearls, but the true treasure is its bountiful natural environment and a plateful of fresh oysters.
Home of the cultured pearl, Toba in Ise-Shima has both history and living tradition
"To Bond," Ian Fleming wrote in his 1964 novel, "You Only Live Twice," "they all seemed beautiful in the soft evening light ... the gleaming, muscled buttocks, cleft by the black cord, the powerful thong round the waist with its string of oval lead ...
Mie pearl farmer looks to Vietnam for new opportunities, fresh workforce
Ago Bay in Shima, Mie Prefecture, is one of the leading places in Japan where pearls can be cultured. The number of pearl farmers has declined in recent years, however, and they are an aging workforce. Shima has been in the spotlight recently, as it ...
Skin divers turn to tourism to stem the tide
At the Sea People restaurant in Shima, a coastal hamlet in Mie Prefecture, sea diver Machiyo Yamashita wants a piece of a tourism industry dominated by the cities that sapped her town's vitality by luring away its youth. "I want to cook and serve customers ...
A 222-meter-long pearl necklace, certified by Guinness World Records as the world's longest, is on display at a Hanshin department store in the city of Osaka. The necklace, which weighs about 20 kg and is comprised of 28,000 pieces of 8 mm pearls, was presented ...
