One of the most popular and precious pearls available today are the Japanese Black Pearls. These are of two types, the Japanese saltwater cultured black pearls and the Japanese Freshwater cultured black pearls. Of these, the Japanese saltwater cultured pearls come from the Akoya oyster. The Akoya oysters are also used by the Chinese to produce saltwater cultured pearls. Japanese Akoya pearls are the most difficult to grow due to the low survival rates of the host oysters and overall less than 5 in 10 will survive the nucleation process. Of the survivors, about 40% will successfully encircle the shell nucleus irritant with nacre. Overall, less than 5% of pearl output can be considered "high quality."

Freshwater cultured pearls come from freshwater mussels and are produced by Japan. The most famous type of freshwater cultured pearl is the Biwa pearl which use to come from mussels grown in Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest freshwater lake.

The Japanese pearls are considered of high quality and are quite precious. The Japanese black pearls are definitely the collector’s items which can add richness to any jewelry box.