| The debate between Japanese and Chinese Akoya pearls has been raging for quite some time. Sellers of Japanese Akoya claim that only the Japanese can produce truly high quality Akoya pearls, and sellers of Chinese claim that their pearls can be just as nice as the Japanese.
Well, what it comes down to is simple. Yes the Japanese can produce fine quality Akoya pearls, but so can the Chinese. You can buy junk from Japan, and you can buy junk from China. But, you can buy fine quality Akoya that are cultured in China and pay much less for them. But it is much, much more difficult to get to the source in China, and it is not easy to secure the best pieces - it is about relationships and experience.
I personally travel to China 10-12 times each year, 5-6 times visiting Akoya farms and factories, and 5-6 times visiting the freshwater region. I travel to Japan twice each year, once shortly after Hamaage (Akoya harvest) and once in the fall to replenish for Christmas.
The reason I do so well visiting Akoya pearl farms in China is simply because they are very difficult to get to, and the farmers and factory owners rarely speak English. This means I am always the only Westerner in the area. Can you guess where the all the other buyers come from? They all come from Japan. The Japanese buyers buy everything with decent luster, no matter the surface quality. They buy the pearls loose, take them back to Japan, more or less slap a label on the strands that says “made in Japan”, and sell them to their Japanese and International customers.
Publications such as the JCK, Jewellery News Asia, Pearl World – The International Pearling Journal, have all reported that if you buy a strand of Akoya pearls, you are almost certain to have 80% Chinese pearls mixed in with those truly farmed in Japan. How can the factories get away with this, one might ask? It is simple, there is no difference in the pearls when the quality is the same. Due to fact that the Chinese can now produce top quality Akoya pearls, nearly all pearl farms in Japan are currently operating in the red (also reported by Pearl World). The factories, however, are not. They are surviving by purchasing pearls from China, greatly marking them up, and selling them as Japanese. This means the real losers are the Japanese pearl farmers AND the end consumers who have been made to believe they are purchasing a superior product.
It was recently posted on a well-known pearl Site, a comparison photo of a fine quality “Japanese Akoya” strand and a low quality Chinese Akoya, stating in their experience it is the typical quality coming out of China. The picture that I have posted below is equally absurd, but I feel it gets the same apples to oranges point across. The top strand is a top quality Chinese Akoya strand, and the bottom strand is one I purchased from Teishin Trading Company in Kobe Japan last Fall when they offered me with a "great" deal on a few hanks. I paid $35 more for the bottom strand. Now I ask you, which is the better piece? According to Japanese Akoya purveyors it would be the bottom strand - worth at least 70% more! |