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Ishigaki Japan: Mikimoto Pearl Farms

Japan's Ishigaki island is located in the Okinawa prefecture at the southern-most tip of Japan. Ishigaki's Kabira Bay (shown in satellite image, below) and Nakura Bay at Kannonzaki were the first sites to host the cultivation of blacklip mussles in the early 1900s. Kokichi Mikimoto started black pearl cultivation on Ishigaki in 1914, expanding to the South Pacific island of Palau in 1922.

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