After WWII, the labor costs of Japan were much cheaper of that era, so jewelry was less expensive to make by the companies and produced in larger quantities for there were more people working on them. This earned the jewelry some low regard for this period. They served as a competition for other companies. The jewelry is finely crafted by artisans and is a higher quality than first expected. All are done by hand and are hand strung in such an array of one of a kind design and in fact rarely are any two Japan pieces found that are exactly alike.