Journeys in Japan

Toba City, Mie: The heartland of the pearl (2x5)

:

In this week's journeys in japan, we visit Toba-city in Mie-Pref., the town famous for cultured pearls. It was Japan that the first pearls were successfully produced from farmed oysters. The coast around Toba is heavily indented. This kind of topography, known as a ria coastline, is perfect for oyster cultivation. Kokichi Mikimoto is the person who first successfully cultured pearl. In 1888 when he was 40, he first started his research. He experimented with nearly 10 types of oysters, to determine which would form the highest quality pearls. In 1893, after 5 years of experimenting, he finally managed to produce his first cultured pearl. The place we visited was a small island called Pearl Island, there is a museum where visitors can find out about the history of cultured pearls. There are many women divers in Toba who catch shellfish and lobsters. There is the hat where visitors can come to feast on freshly caught seafood by women divers. Everyone can enjoy great seafood and view from this hut. In Toba, pearls are even incorporated in food. Pearl powder is rich in calcium and has been used as a traditional medicine in China since ancient times. We visited the ice cream shop serving the ice cream with pearl powder in. At the end, we visited the place where we can see the artworks using pearls. Toshimi Konishi has been using pearls to make distinctive artworks for 40 years. Konishi says he came up with the idea of making these artworks when he was thinking up ways to use the pearls that have irregular shapes and can't be sold. Also a 20 minutes ferry journey from Toba port brings you to Dolphin Island. There you can watch dolphin and sea lion shows. Another popular site is a pair of rocks known as Meoto-Iwa. Many visitors like to watch the magnificent sunrise from this spot.