Mie Prefecture has been a center of cultured-pearl production since 1905, when Kokichi Mikimoto succeeded in producing the world's first cultured pearl.

Mikimoto inserted a tiny mother-of-pearl bead in a pearl oyster and returned the shell to the sea for six months. The oyster's secretions accumulated around the bead to produce a perfectly round pearl.

Mie Prefecture is now one of the leading centers of pearl production in the world. Over the past few years, however, far more oysters have been dying. The mass deaths have made a big dent on the volume of pearl produced in the region.

The cause of the higher death rate--which jumped from around 40% to between 60% and 70%--has yet to be found, but Fisheries Agency officials think that excessive culturing might have damaged the area's delicate ecosystem.


Photo by Ministry of Foreign Affairs.