Search results

We followed Yukio's little white truck for the next 1 1/2 hours through winding mountain roads that barely seemed wide enough for 2 cars. We stopped in a tiny farming village of about 120 people, and went to a small organic farm. We were given a basket and told to go pick the vegetables for...

The weather was beautiful, as you can tell from the photos. 70F with a light breeze and clear. I'd checked online and people said that June started the rainy season in Japan, and that it would be hot and humid. I live in central Florida. I know hot and humid. Japan was not hot and humid...

And I'm only halfway through DAY 1 !!!! I'll post more tomorrow.

The 4th pearl farm. Only 2 grafters here. The grafter inserted a bead, then 2 pieces of mantle tissue, and then a second bead. Back in the day, all pearl farms did two nuclei beads per oyster, but I suspect this was back when the oysters were larger. Akoya oysters today are very small...

Now, I know you all know and hate those pearl parties that were popular a few years ago. The ones where unscrupulous people would take dead baby akoyas and stuff them with cheap freshwater pearls from China, pack the oysters in formaldehyde, and sell them to people to open and find a pearl...

Neither had we!

Now we're off to our 3rd pearl farm. DOI Pearl. Once again, look how clean everything is. There was no fishy smell anywhere. Everything smelled fresh. Even leaning over the oysters, everything smelled fresh. Akoya shells cannot be used to make the bead that goes inside the pearl...

The Japanese had us scheduled to the minute. We had to go right next door to the next pearl farm. 4 pearl grafters at this farm, and one person on the left cutting up the mantle tissue. This lovely married couple have been grafting a long time. He's been grafting 50 years, and she's been...

Each pearl grafter had their own technique for culturing pearls. This gentleman makes a cut in the oyster's gonad, then he inserts a piece of mantle tissue, and then he inserts a round shell bead (the nucleus of the pearl) up against the mantle tissue. Remember, the mantle tissue is tiny...

Wednesday, 4-June-2025. The Japanese take us on! We checked out of the hotel and drove to Matsuyama Airport to pick up Tevai. Our group is now complete. We drove to Uwajma City for lunch, and met the Japanese team. We ate Taimeshi again, so those of us "in the know" instructed the...

At 7:15 p.m. we met Nathalie and Helena in the lobby of the hotel. And Jeremy's friend, Takashi, took us out for a multi course, traditional Japanese meal. Private room. Tatami mats. We sat on the floor. AMAZING food. I have no idea what I ate although it was explained to me at time...

At 1 p.m. we walked to a quiet street at the base of the castle and Hisano picked the restaurant. It served local TAIMESHI. It's a rice bowl dish in which sea bream sashimi (locally caught) is dipped in a sauce of raw egg, soy sauce, and dashi stock, plus various toppings, and then poured...

We met Ruby and Andy at the hotel at 11 a.m. It was lightly raining. In Florida I would have called this type of rain "humidity." Jeremy kept trying to keep an umbrella over me, and I kept wandering out from under it. We walked across the street to Matsuyama Castle. It's the largest of the...

Tuesday, 3-June-2025 Jeremy, Hisano, and I walked around the covered streets that were like a shopping mall, next to our hotel. We found a store selling pearls, so of course we had to check it out. One strand was very, very pink. We asked them to take it out for us to look at closer...

I started on Sunday, 1-June-2025, from Orlando, Florida. I flew to Minneapolis to Haneda Airport in Tokyo, and then on to Matsuyama. I travelled for 26 hours, and managed to somehow get a taxi to the hotel and collapse onto the bed. I was exhausted. I'm glad I Googled the hotel rooms...

First up, what to wear? I knew I had to wear akoya pearls for this trip. Plus, I wanted to make sure that everyone important to me was represented. From the top! Mikimoto earrings. Little h emerald and pearl tin-cup and little h emerald and soufflé pearl enhancer, all made by Hisano...

In February, 2025, Jeremy Shepherd sent me a message here on Pearl Guide. "Would you be interested in joining a small select group for an all-expense paid trip to Japan to visit a pearl farm in Uwajima and a behind-the-scenes experience with the JPEA and the JPPS (Japan Pearl Exporters...

WOWZA! I LOVE that brooch. I love blue pearls, and I love the design of that brooch. I've never seen baroque pearls in old Mikimoto pieces, and it's rare to see them use yellow gold. Most of the brooches I've seen have been silver. This is a real treasure. Oh, and "in your face"...

WOWZA, those akoyas are amazing, JEG.

I decided to actually wear a pair of Mom's mabe' earrings. These are swapsies from my sister. Ones she decided she didn't want. They're growing on me. The pearls themselves are beautiful. Worn with The Swan pendant. I can never capture all the colors in this pearl. I bought it from...