The Business Times
business-time-50
BRUNCH

Bringing the lustre back to Japan’s cultured pearls

Ise Shima’s tradition-bound cultivated pearl industry is now looking beyond Japan

google-preferred-sourceAdd BT as a preferred source

Tan Su Yen

Published Fri, Oct 27, 2023 · 12:15 PM
    • Cypress forests come right up to the water's edge in Ise Shima's sheltered inlets; their falling leaves enriching the seas.
    • Maiko Makito, second-generation owner and managing director of Pearl Falco, hopes to make her Singapore subsidiary a success and replicate its business model in Ise Shima.
    • Pearl farmers tend to Akoya oysters for up to six years before the pearls are ready to be harvested.
    • Cypress forests come right up to the water's edge in Ise Shima's sheltered inlets; their falling leaves enriching the seas. PHOTO: PEARL FALCO
    • Maiko Makito, second-generation owner and managing director of Pearl Falco, hopes to make her Singapore subsidiary a success and replicate its business model in Ise Shima. PHOTO: PEARL FALCO
    • Pearl farmers tend to Akoya oysters for up to six years before the pearls are ready to be harvested. PHOTO: PEARL FALCO

    THE mantra “Plant a tree to grow a pearl” ­­­is one which pearl farmers of Ise Shima, Japan, hold dear.

    Along this winding stretch of Japan’s Pacific coast, fragrant cypress forests – mostly natural, some planted – come right up to the water’s edge. Falling leaves and twigs fertilise the seas. This leads to an abundance of plankton, on which the region’s famous Akoya pearl oysters thrive.

    Located 90 minutes by train south of Nagoya, Ise Shima – which encompasses the four cities of Toba, Ise, Shima and Minami-Ise – is the birthplace of cultured pearls.

    TRENDING NOW

    Despite the current sell-off, currency strategists view the ringgit’s slide as temporary.

    Singdollar hits 10-month high against ringgit as investors take refuge in traditional safe haven

    Apple’s first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo, is the company’s thinnest phone but is thicker than folding phones offered by Chinese rivals.

    Apple joins foldable phone race with US$1,999 passport-shaped iPhone Duo

    DBS says that it will “vigorously resist the claim”.

    DBS ‘categorically rejects’ S$1.3 billion claim by 1MDB-linked entities under liquidation

    Digital tools have made it easier to spot duplicate financing, but detecting fake invoices remains “notoriously difficult”.

    Commodity-finance risks back in focus amid Radiant World scrutiny

    Latest T-bills Treasury Bills Results & Interest NewsLatest SSB Singapore Savings Bonds NewsLatest COE Certificate of Entitlement News
    Latest Johor-Singapore SEZ NewsLatest BTO Build To Order & Sales of Balance NewsLatest STI Straits Times Index NewsLatest SGX Dividends, Share Price NewsLatest Bonds Market NewsLatest Singapore Stocks To Buy NewsLatest Singapore Economy News
    View More