Does anything interesting happen at the junction of January and February? I’m not persuaded anything does. At least it was warmish around here for the last weekend in January — in the 40s F. both Saturday and Sunday, with rain today to melt away much of the remaining snow, which isn’t too bad for the pit of winter. But the relative warmth didn’t persuade us to do much. At least I found the likes of Hugh Laurie in New Orleans on YouTube over the weekend.

Early February 1992

Recently I visited Toba, a town on the ocean in Ise Prefecture, Japan. That’s the place where cultured pearls were popularized, if not invented, in the early 20th century, and the popularization continues to this day in the form of Mikimoto Pearl Island.

The island, which is connected to the mainland by a very short bridge, includes a museum at which you can learn all sorts of pearl factoids; this I did. I had no idea pearls came in so many colors. You can also buy terrifically expensive jewelry there; this I did not.

On display are some items of gaudy fascination, such as a silver replica Liberty Bell (one-third scale) mostly covered in cultured pearls, complete with a crack represented by a zigzag of darker pearls. Supposedly it was exhibited at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Other structures include a be-pearled model of Himeji Castle, a globe that includes rubies and diamonds as well as a pearls, and a lotta pearls in the shape of large model pagoda.

At Mikimoto Pearl Island I thought of what the mother of a friend of mine told me upon hearing that I planned to move to Japan. That’s where the pearls come from, she said. Guess Mikimoto’s been successful in getting the word out.