Kobe Pearl Museum - Come Appreciate World Famous Japanese Pearls

Kobe, Hyogo, the City of Pearls, is renowned for its processing of pearls. We’ll guide you into the world of pearls in Kobe where you can learn about the origin, culturing, and processing of pearls and the people that sustain the local industry.

Kobe: The Global Center of Pearl Processing

Pearls have long been loved by people around the world as jewelry and in accessories that beautifully accent our global fashions. There are records stating that pearls were even used as jewelry in ancient Rome and Persia. In Japan, they were also called white gems and were used as offerings to the gods.

Japan is a top-class country in the field of processing cultured pearls. Kobe, Hyogo, where approximately 70% of the world’s pearl circulation takes place, is a global center for pearl processing and is called the City of Pearls.

In this article, we will introduce the Kobe Pearl Museum where you can learn about the history of pearls and the people that sustain the processing industry.

The Reason Pearls Are Processed in Kobe

Culturing technology was invented in Ago Bay, Mie between the end of the nineteenth to the beginning of the 20th century, which made it possible to mass produce pearls. Afterwards, Japan rapidly developed as a prominent pearl exporter to the world.

A majority of the pearl oysters cultivated in Japan are from a bivalve species called Akoya oysters. They are 10cm in size as pictured in the photo above.

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