Its pearl operations include another farm in Fukuoka prefecture, part of Japan’s southern island ... “Back in the day, women divers called ama-san were hired to collect oysters, but nowadays ...

and ama are commonly described outside Japan – anachronistically – as “pearl divers”. However, harvesting of natural pearls is all but impossible these days, as the oysters vanished off ...

The Saudi Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka hosted an event titled Tales of Water, celebrating two maritime civilizations—separated ...

and the introduction of the Japanese cultured pearl had a significant impact. Types of boats used in pearl diving Four types of boats were majorly used for pearl diving: Shouai - This boat had a ...

Their sea whistling, described as a mournful melody, is rated among the top 100 soundscapes of Japan. A diver adds an abalone to her floating basket during a demonstration at Mikimoto Pearl Island ...

Starting in the 1920s, the introduction of artificial pearls by Japan and the discovery of mineral fuels in Qatar made pearl diving obsolete. This was probably for the best, as pearl diving was a ...

In the early 1900s, Japanese businessman Kokichi Mikimoto ... cultured pearls quickly destroyed Qatar’s pearl-diving industry. The sparsely populated British protectorate was one of the poorest ...

The hermit, World War I veteran Bert Dawson, told Mr Crow that in 1918 a cyclone hit the island and stranded a crew of Japanese pearl divers, some of whom died. The story stayed with Mr Crow and ...