Pearl extracting experience in tokyo

[seoulite]

Hi all!
I'm new to this website and this is my first post!

i liked pearls from young age but in my country, pearl was considered 'for old people/for grandmas', so i didn't really wear them ( i have several cheap freshwater pearl earrings , necklaces purchased during my holiday in the southeast asia but never could wear them here.)

So when I turned 30, i started buying pearls..telling myself.. i'm old enough now..(and more people started wearing pearls!!!!)
I started with Tasaki necklaces and earrings (from outlet) and bought a gold southsea pearl earrings in manila,
black tahitian pearl earrings in japan (i figured i would never be able to go to tahiti..),
and then..


last week, i went to tokyo.. before going to tokyo, i've decided to buy akoyas and as i was searching for store information,
i found this small store that does 'akoya pearl extracting expereince' on saturdays.
1 shell costs 1300 yen (13 usd) and you can make into anything with extra cost.

I bought 2 shells and this is waht i got!!!! i was lucky enough to get nice luster and same size (8.7mm) but the colors were different so my only choice was to make into a necklace. (2 shells + setting fee + silver chain= 81usd)
my friend also tried with 2 shells but only one pearl was good enough to make into something.
it was so much fun.. anticipating...choosing..and getting the final product..

whoa.. i don't know where i'm going with this post but i just wanted to say hello and share this experience.

thx!