Toba City, Mie

On this edition of Journeys in Japan, Tyrone Russell and Nozomi Goto 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. 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 hut 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. 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.