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And now I’ll leave you with some eye candy as we enter the store. The Fukae Pearl Company has a storefront and the farm sits on the water below.

Our next stop takes us to Fukae Pearl Company. There was a whirl of ceremony as we approached. I ddn’t quite understand what was happening when we exited the bus but there was a line up of dignitaries from the government, including the governor of Nagasaki himself. They each handed out business...

We gather in the meeting room where Mr. Fujita joins us for final thoughts. He thanks us for traveling all the way to the western tip of Japan. His farm harvests approximately 600,000- 700,000 pearls a year. If all the pearls could be used for strands this would create about 10,000 strands...

We enter the grafting area where the room is separated into two sides. The senior more experienced grafters sit along the right side of the room, and the younger grafters sit to the left. Historically this process was such a guarded secret, but in changing times, we are allowed to view closely...

We return to the shore and while waiting for our next move I notice random things, like this bowl of beads used for nucleating sitting on the deck. They are pulling another net for us to view. The Akoya in this net are 5 years old and they begin opening them for us to dig in and find a pearl...

Mr. Fujita said there were many difficulties but finally he managed to survive. He is a philosophical man with quite a sense of humor. He created his philosophy to create harmony and has this vision hanging in the meeting room. Roughly translated: 1. Akoya and shellfish are living things. Take...

Day 3. It is day 2 of my entries, but to keep this in sync with our itinerary, this is day 3 of our tour. Thank you for noticing, Pella. Bunny is along for the adventure and has been safely nestling. I have been juggling more things than usual on these day trips and do not want Bunny to bounce...

Thank you! I hope to keep up with a daily journal entry as much as possible!

Most of our group. I will post introductions in a later post- We had a delicious lunch at the Tsushima Grand Hotel where Mr. Chikazawa joined us. We were able to share our thoughts and takeaways about our visit to his farm and ask him many questions. Our heads were as full as our bellies...

We say our goodbyes to this beautiful location and continue on our tour of the island. We work our way through the scenic area of Mt. Eboshi and Wadatsumi Shrine.

Our next stop is to see part of the cleaning process. This is a floating cleaning facility that is moved around the water and anchored in the area where the mollusks need to be cleaned. Inside, they are in the process of removing the shells from the netting for cleaning. They are approximately...

Next we see nets of nucleated oysters. After they are nucleated, they stay in nets for approximately 2 more years. They are cleaned a couple more times before Hamaage.

We pass a monument in honor of the pearl oysters that have sacrificed their lives for the pearls. At dinner, I learned from Mr. Ueda (president of Akoya Pearl Company) that it puts so much pressure on the shell to produce pearls very big. It would be like the size of a volleyball to a human.

We continue out to sea to view another stage of growth. A black container hold these mollusks which are approximately 2 years old. They are in containment before nucleation to prevent the pearl shells from producing eggs. Apparently this can affect the luster and color of the pearls they create...

There are buoys with rope lines in every direction holding 3 million Akoya pearl mollusks at every stage of the growth process. Half of these will survive. Out of the half that survive, 1.2 million can be nucleated. The first line to be pulled onto our boat contain nets of baby spat at...

From the airport, our first destination was to visit Kitamura Pearls Oyamakoshi Farm. This farm has been in operation since 1901, and is responsible for 8-10% of the Japanese Pearl Production. Mr. Yusuke Chikazawa is the president of Kitamura Pearls. This farm sits on such a peaceful idyllic...

I am so honored to be on a pearling adventure of a lifetime hosted by the Japan Pearl Exporters’ Association. This is the second tour hosted by this organization and I cannot express my gratitude for the opportunity to share this experience with the Pearl Guide Community. My trip began with...

I am on a pearling adventure of a lifetime and in the next few days will be mostly posting in a thread I am creating under the Pearling Industry News titled “Japan Pearl Tour and the 7th Japan Pearl Fair hosted by the Japan Pearl Exporters Association”. I will try to add daily entries as much as...

I love pearl studs, BWeaves! They are always my go-to. Long Akoya rope with Tahitian dangle from Kojima, MOP hibiscus earrings from Maui Divers, Hawaii, and two tin cups I wrapped with tiny T’s from Alex Colllins.