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SHOTLIST AP Television Ise City, Japan National Cultured Pearl Federation, Mie Prefecture, 21 December 2009 1. Mid bags of first pearls of this season''s harvest 2. Wide of buyers inspecting pearls that they will bid for at the first auction of the season. 3. Close up of buyer inspecting pearls 4. Mid of buyers inspecting pearls 5. Various close ups of pearls in buyer''s hands 6. Pan of pearls of different sizes in bowls 7. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Mitsuhashi Tokuo, President of the Japan National Cultured Pearl Federation: "From the spring of this year (2009) both the conditions of the ocean and the akoya oysters have been excellent, so this season we have had a harvest of extreme high quality." AP Television Ago Bay, Tategami district, Mie Prefecture, 21 December 2009 8. Wide of of pearl producers taking racked akoya pearl oysters off a boat 9. Pan of pearl producer bringing racked akoya pearl oysters inside a hut 10. Wide of pearl producer removed oysters from rack 11. Close up of oysters on the floor 12. Wide of Kobaiyashi Yoshitomo pulling pearl rack out of water 13. Wide of Kobaiyashi Yoshitomo taking pearl rack inside 14. Close up Kobaiyashi reveals pearl within the akoya shell. 15. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Kobaiyashi Yoshitomo, Pearl producer: "The harvest begins in December (and for us) will end in early January." 16. Various of Kobaiyashi and other family members opening akoya pearl oysters and separating the edible adductor muscle (kaibashira in Japanese) from the fleshy mantel that contains the cultured pearl 17. Close up of kaibashira (adductor muscle), a delicacy usually eaten raw with soy sauce and wasabi, or fried 18. Close up of akoya mantel with exposed pearl 19. Various of Kobaiyashi separating the soft tissue mantel from the pearls 21. Close up of washed pearls in bowl 22. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Kobaiyashi Yoshitomo, Pearl Producer +++ audio partially covered with shot 23 +++ "We surgically insert a bead like this into the akoya oysters. It''s manufactured from ground mother of pearl taken from shells. Then we leave them in the ocean for around a year and with careful management they produce a pearl like this. 23. Close up of hand holding pearl 24. Alternative close up of hand holding pearl AP Television Ago Bay, Tategami district, Mie Prefecture, 21 December 2009 25. Wide of Inoue Hisami, pearl producer, in Ago Bay pulling a basket from the water 26. Various shots Inoue opens an akoya pearl oyster and makes an incision in the shell''s gonad (reproductive organ) 27. Various of Inoue Hisami inserting a small piece of mother of pearl into the incision followed by a polished mother of pearl bead. 28. Close of mother of pearl bead being inserted 29. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Inoue Hisami, Pearl Producer : "If the oysters are too weak they die, if they are too strong they either reject the bead or produce a malformed pearl. This part of the preparation is called tailoring the oysters and it is said to be the most important part of the process." 30. Zoom in on a bead inserted into an akoya pearl oyster LEAD IN It''s pearl harvest time in the city of Ise in Japan''s Mie prefecture, and it''s looking to be a good one. Since the beginning of the 20th century mother of pearl seeds have been planted into akoya oysters here, to create these gems from the sea. STORYLINE These bags contain the first pearls of this season''s harvest. Buyers from all over Japan have come to inspect the pearls that they will bid for in a series of auctions held between late December and early February. The luxurious beads are sold by weight quantified in an old measurement known as a mome, the equivalent of 3.75 grams. A natural pearl is formed without any human intervention. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/83fffe2712e0ece731cf7ec64206b138 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork