[Kobe City] Experience the pearl city “Kobe” with Pearl Connection’s accessory making experience!

• Table of Contents
• About Pearl Connection
• Access via the articulated bus “Port Loop”!
• Experience making pearl accessories!
• After the experience
• basic information

About Pearl Connection

Pearl Connection LLC is a facility where you can experience making pearl accessories. Their philosophy is ``Connecting people and communities with pearls - like a pearl necklace, we connect and shine as unique people'', and we are working to popularize ``Kobe, the City of Pearls'' and pearls. It's a group.

Specific activities include selling pearls, offering experiences, holding seminars on SDGs that involve pearls, and guiding customers to places that tell the story of pearls.

The top of the logo mark is pearl white, and the surrounding area is inspired by the 17 colors of the SDGs, expressing the company's determination to contribute to the SDGs. We have a unique structure in which six women are our representative employees, and each of them is active in a wide variety of specialized fields such as national guide interpreters, writers, and idols.

In addition, Pearl Connection's "Experience the charm of Hyogo/Kobe's pearl industry and culture" has been certified by Hyogo Field Pavilion as an SDGs hands-on regional program.

*What is Hyogo Field Pavilion?

In June 2023, Pearl Connection opened a facility near Higashi Yuenchi where you can experience pearls.

Access via the articulated bus “Port Loop”!

It can be reached within a 10-minute walk from Sannomiya Station, but on hot summer days, we also recommend taking the 18m long articulated bus "Port Loop".

Great value tickets

Kobe 1-day bus ticket

This ticket is a great value for sightseeing in Kobe! This is a mobile bus ticket that allows you to ride as many times as you like on the tour bus (City Loop/Port Loop) that covers all the sightseeing spots in Kobe City for just 700 yen a day.

Click here for purchase and details of Kobe 1-day bus ticket

Hyogo Amazing Pass

This ticket is recommended for those who are considering touring around Himeji and Hyogo prefectures other than Kobe! Kobe 1-day bus ticket contents + A mobile ticket that allows you to ride unlimited Shinki Bus routes for 1,000 yen per day. *Limited to foreign visitors tourists visiting Japan

Click here for purchase and details of Hyogo Amazing Pass

Experience making pearl accessories!

Pearl Connection is located on the second floor of the building right next to the bus stop in front of City Hall/Higashi Yuenchi. Exit the elevator to the right and you will find it at the end of the building.

When you step inside, you can see a glimpse of a cute miniature house.

The roof is made of pearls, and the walls and windows are made of mother-of-pearl shells. In fact, the roof of this house alone is worth enough to buy a real house... Just looking at it is all I can do...

Now, about the experience you've been waiting for.

①Pearl processing experience using a machine to create pin badges and brooches / 3,300 yen Akoya pearls (Japan's representative pearls, mainly found in western Japan) are used.

② Experience making earrings and necklaces by pasting Japanese traditional crafts "gold and silver leaf" on pearls / 5,500 yen There are two types of pearls used: black lipped pearls and white lipped pearls (also known as Tahitian pearls, large pearls produced overseas) . By the way, if you buy black lipped pearls and white lipped pearls of this size at a department store or jewelry store, it will cost nearly 20,000 yen. Being able to make it for only 5,500 yen is a great experience product! !

After hearing such valuable information, I have no choice but to get earrings! lol

(You can also wear earrings.) First, choose the color. I had a hard time deciding between black lipped pearls and white lipped pearls, but since this was my first ever pearl, ``First Pearl,'' I chose the classic white color. So smooth and cute~

Once you have decided on the color, the next step is choosing the pearls. If you look closely at pearls born from living things, they are very unique and no two are alike. A pair that is slightly different is also authentic, so I'm still confused here.

Hmm, I chose you☆

Next, choose whether to attach gold or silver leaf to the pearl and carve it into the desired size with a toothpick.

The most important thing to watch out for here is snorting!

It's so light that it seems like it will fly away as soon as you laugh (lol) I chose silver leaf, but silver leaf flies off easier than gold leaf, so you need to be even more careful!

Next, mix the adhesive.

It is a two-component mixture type adhesive that is also used by professional processing companies. After mixing the adhesive, apply the silver foil to the area where you want to apply it. It's a question of sense...

Then, finally, use a toothpick or tweezers to apply the silver foil.

I didn't speak a single word as I was concentrating on the detailed work, but it was worth it, as it was a perfect solution to my sniffles!

I tried making a design where the pearl goes all the way around, but what do you think? ? While I was drying, I attended a mini-seminar about pearls.

Not only will you learn about pearls, but you will also learn about why pearls developed in Kobe, their history, and the SDGs.

As I mentioned at the beginning, the reason why Kobe is called the city of pearls is

①Kobe Port, the largest port in Kansai, is located near the pearl production area.

②In the first place, Kobe had a track record as a trading city.

③ In search of processing technology, processing companies gathered together to improve each other's technology.

④The northern light reflecting off Mt. Rokko was suitable for the pearl processing process.

It seems so. In this way, we were able to distribute a large amount of pearls that the world wanted in Kobe!

This seminar clearly conveys the desire of everyone at Pearl Connection to make more people aware of the charm of pearls and to fall in love with them.

After the experience

I had the valuable experience of making one-of-a-kind original accessories from real pearls. I spent a lot of time and effort making it, so I'm sure I'll love it and could spend hours looking at it.

It's great not only for special occasions such as weddings, but also for everyday wear and to enjoy fashion. Pearls are a dream for women, but you may not be able to afford them easily. In fact, I myself was interested in pearls, but I think I subconsciously avoided them because I thought they looked expensive and that it was too early to buy the real thing.

For such people, we would like to recommend the pearl accessory making experience at Pearl Connection, which is a place where you can touch real, high-quality pearls, and a place where you can make your pearl debut.

If you are interested, please check it out!

(Editorial Department/KANADE)

*This article is information as of September 2023. Prices include tax. Product contents and prices may change.

basic information

Pearl Connection LLC

Address: Room 1, 3rd floor, Tajima Building, 4-2-8 Isobe-dori, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture

Access: 20 minutes walk from Sannomiya Station on each line, approximately 5 minutes from Port Loop “Higashi Yuenchi/Shiyakusho-mae” stop

Parking: None

HP: https://pearlconnection2025.com/

SNS: Instagram

Other: Currently, experiences are held irregularly, so if you would like to experience it, please contact us via our website or SNS.