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Biwa are lustrous freshwater pearls from Lake Biwa in Japan. Biwa pearls are a recent discovery, found in the 1970’s and 1980’s, but they are no longer in production at Lake Biwa due to pollution. Crinkled rice-shaped pearls are Chinese river pearls, which can be lustrous. More recently, round and near round Chinese pearls have been produced that look much like Akoya.
