Hi Jeremy,
Thank you for an informative article.
Some B&M stores told me that akoya is the best, then cultured, then FW. I was baffled and thought to myself, "they are all cultured"
. When I looked at the tag "made in Japan", "made in China", I finally figured out they call Japanese akoya as akoya and akoya with Chinese origin as "cultured". Besides my obsession with Tahitian pearls, I think FW is exceptionally beautiful. Because they are 100% nacre but cost less than akoya, that makes that even better.