If it weren’t for Kokichi Mikimoto, we might be living in a world without pearls. As a young man growing up in a seaside Japanese village, Mikimoto observed the diminishing supply of natural pearls ...

Visitors to Ago Bay can learn about the history of cultured pearls at the museum on Mikimoto Pearl Island. Mikimoto Pearl Island/JNTO Ago Bay's calm waters and sheltered inlets are perfect for pearls.

Every item on this page was chosen by a Town & Country editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy. If it weren’t for Kokichi Mikimoto, we might be living in a world without ...

In a modest, unpainted four-room house atop a narrow headland overlooking Japan’s Ago Bay, a wizened little man in a brown kimono and a black derby hat shuffled about in a pearly haze. He was Kokichi ...