Visiting Kobe on 4/9 — Any recommended places to visit for exploring pearls?

[NY_Resonant]

Hi All,

I’ll be visiting Kobe, Japan on April 9th for 1 day. Would anybody have any recommendations of Pearl-related places to visit?

I figured it would be a shame not to explore the Pearl-processing-capital a bit when I was only an hour away in Kyoto!

 

[lambskin]

Try to find an expat forum on the internet as it may have some shopping spots Where language might not be an issue. I do this when traveling out of the country. Many suggestions for shopping are vetted and not on the tourist trail. It takes some digging but they are out there. Good luck. What a fab place to visit!

 

[NY_Resonant]

Made a meeting to meet Kan at Takahashi in the morning of 4/10 in Kobe Picking up my first order in person and having him show me necklace strands that he & Yy picked. Sad I can’t meet Yy since she is in HK!

Hoping to look at: 8-8.5mm gem, 8.5-9mm gem, 2x 8.5-9mm gem luster with minor flaw and a Tennyo pre-cert or Granpearl necklace (I call this the control necklace, hah) .

Kan will probably look at me weirdly when I take photos of the necklaces and start looking at my phone versus looking at the real ones in front of me, haha.

Do people here find it easier to compare minor differences in quality with a picture/video allowing you to zoom, etc…. Or with natural eyes?

 

[NY_Resonant]

Also does anyone have experience with what Takahashi calls Gem Luster with minor flaw? What kind of minor flaws did you see? Thanks!

 

[SomethingNew]

omg.... i am so following this thread as I plan to spend a day in Kobe in June as well. Please update us. Have a good trip and eat the most amazing food while you are there.

Will you be seeing this one that they just posted?

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[NY_Resonant]

omg.... i am so following this thread as I plan to spend a day in Kobe in June as well. Please update us. Have a good trip and eat the most amazing food while you are there.

Will you be seeing this one that they just posted?

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

Definitely looking forward to the amazing food. Gotta try Kobe Beef in Kobe, right? .

I’ll try to take some photos and share.

I’ll see whatever Kan has on site to show me, haha.

I know they are going to be working hard to prepare items for the Kobe pearl conference March 28-31 — So I hope I get to see some of their material for that! Wish I could have attended!!!

 

[empliau]

So exciting! Best wishes for a magical trip to Japan. Cherry blossoms and pearls are fabulous.

I've always wanted a boxwood comb from Kyoto. The famous makers don't seem to do internet sales. Someday I'll get there! And Kobe. And....

 

[NY_Resonant]

In preparation to my visiting Takahashi and seeing their pearls in person, I went to Mikimoto today. Here are some photos and comments from my visit!
Necklace on left is a AAA. Middle one is AA. Right one is A+. The A+ one fell FAR behind the other two visually in person! This AA was actually very beautiful. I could tell the AAA had a *little* more luster but it was a small difference. I’d be perfectly happy with this type of AA quality (Note: not all AA is the same, I didn’t like a AA earring that I saw).








Some closeups:





Then we had a 7.5mm AAA brought out — even more luster than the previous AAA (8.5mm): Not all AAA are the same.












Then we had two AAA 8.5mm earrings brought out (and a AA but that one fell far behind the two AAA): Note one AAA was noticeably nicer than the other upon First inspection — once again, not all AAA are equal.





Here is a picture of the AA earrings which did not compare at all to the AA necklace which looked VERY close to the AAA necklace: Still not sure why the AA earring looked so much worse unless the AAA earring compared to it was exceptional, this picture shows it is equivalent to the necklace AA…

 

[NY_Resonant]

Some on-body shots of the AAA 7.5mm necklace and 8.5mm AAA earrings:

 

[lambskin]

Following this thread…can’t wait for Kobe pics! Beautiful Mikimoto pearls. The luster is unbelievable And incredible!

 

[lambskin]

Am I reading correctly the tag price on the AA necklace as $62, 000? Curious, what would the Takahashi price be for a similar rope? Higher or lower?

 

[NY_Resonant]

Am I reading correctly the tag price on the AA necklace as $62, 000? Curious, what would the Takahashi price be for a similar rope? Higher or lower?

The AAA 8.5mm necklace (16 inch choker, not 18 inch princess) was shown at that price.
Prices move around and I don’t want to list specific Takahashi prices but 8.5-9mm gem necklaces (16 inch strand that becomes 18 inch with knots+clasp) for them would be at around 1/10th that price. Retail markup and brand markup is definitely a whopper! Also, everything I’ve read indicates that while Takahashi has beautiful pearls —- it’s unlikely to be at the AAA level unless one gets very lucky. If I see solid mikimoto-AA level quality at Takahashi during my visit, I’ll be very happy.

 

[lambskin]

Ooohhhh, I want to go to Kobe!

 

[yssie]

These Mikimoto photos are fascinating. Thank you so much for sharing them! I can see the difference between the AA and AAA strands, and also between the smaller and larger AAA strands - even from photos. I wonder what the deal is… Is the quality bar slipping with recent large akoya availability issues!?

Whoever your model is, she is beautiful and pearls suit her. She needs a necklace like the one she tried on

 

[NY_Resonant]

These Mikimoto photos are fascinating. Thank you so much for sharing them! I can see the difference between the AA and AAA strands, and also between the smaller and larger AAA strands - even from photos. I wonder what the deal is… Is the quality bar slipping with recent large akoya availability issues!?

Whoever your model is, she is beautiful and pearls suit her. She needs a necklace like the one she tried on

Yes, I was very surprised by the variability within AAA since it was visible immediately when next to each other. One AAA (same size) earring looked instantly better than another… and then how much nicer that 7.5mm AAA necklace looked compared to the 8.5mm AAA.

I know many people buy AAA from mikimoto and then wait months for their piece to be made sometimes —- I would caution people about relying on the mikimoto AAA label alone if they truly want “best of the best”. Especially at those price tags!!! Looks like the AAA comparison process between pieces is still needed, even at Mikimoto.

The model was my better-half who hadn’t been into pearls historically. She really liked the smaller 7-7.5mm strand whereas she thought the 8.5mm one was too large . I agree she looked great with those little glowing balls around her neck! I’m aware of PSS so I’m gonna try to guide her slightly larger at Takahashi — maybe 7.5-8mm?

That’s if the memory of those beautiful little mikimoto AAA 7-7.5mm doesn’t set the bar too high when we are in Kobe, haha. I may regret taking her to the store (laugh)

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Oh my goodness! Please say hi to Mr. Kan for us!! He and Yy are so lovely.

I’m also optimistic that they will have strands that compare well with miki AA quality. My lavender akoya from them glow like crazy. I just restrung my white akoyas from them as well and forgot how lovely they are. I’m a huge fan!

 

[dk168]

I definitely need to save up big time for my trip to Japan in 2025 with visiting Takahashi and Kobe being on the itinerary already.

DK

 

[icy_jade]

I definitely need to save up big time for my trip to Japan in 2025 with visiting Takahashi and Kobe being on the itinerary already.

DK

Time it around something like this:

2nd PEARL INDUSTRY FAIR -Japan-

Hybrid international BtoB exhibition held in Kobe

japan-pearlfair.com

 

[dk168]

Time it around something like this:

2nd PEARL INDUSTRY FAIR -Japan-

Hybrid international BtoB exhibition held in Kobe

japan-pearlfair.com

Shame as the dates do not suit as it is for my next big milestone birthday celebrations.

DK

 

[NY_Resonant]

Oh my goodness! Please say hi to Mr. Kan for us!! He and Yy are so lovely.

I’m also optimistic that they will have strands that compare well with miki AA quality. My lavender akoya from them glow like crazy. I just restrung my white akoyas from them as well and forgot how lovely they are. I’m a huge fan!

They are showing me a 8.5-9mm Granpearl necklace amongst the items I requested to see… I call that my control strand to compare the other’s to! Roughly twice the cost of a gem strand.

The previous day I’m also stopping by Yokota Pearls in Kobe —- they have a store on EBay so figured was worth checking them out. Will try to post pictures/comments here about them after my visit.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

I’m thinking of a 2024 month long asia trip and definitely want to visit Yy at the HK jewelry show.

I can’t wait to see your photos!
I got my supearl from them and it still mesmerizes me every time I see it. I’m sure you’ll be happy with whichever strand you choose!