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 ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Pam Danziger reports on retail, focused on the luxury consumer market. HOUSTON, TX - NOVEMBER 02: A detail shot of the pearl ...

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.

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 ...