James understands how much of a crazy gemstone lover I am. He was incredibly patient with me as I took my time browsing the Yamanashi Gem Museum’s decent rock collection. They have a lot of shiny jewellery pieces on display, but I was most interested in their raw, roughly cut stones. I don’t care much for over-polished, “brilliant cut” jewels because they all start to look the same (or at least aim to look similar) once they undergo that process – the same refraction, the same transparency, the same sort of colour, the same sheen. At least in their more natural forms, gemstones retain their individual character and beauty. Well, that’s what I think anyway.
The Yamanashi Gem Museum was thankfully empty when we arrived (probably because of the wet weather outside) and we had the whole place to ourselves! The museum (which, by the way, is Japan’s only gem museum) is actually more of a gallery, with rows and rows of glass cases containing artfully displayed pieces. A number of large freeform geode specimens can also be found scattered around the hall. In all, the museum boasts approximately 500 different varieties of stones from all over the world, as well as other materials related to jewellery such as amber, pearl and coral.
YAMANASHI GEM MUSEUM
6713 Funatsu Fujikawaguchiko-machi
Minamitsuru-gun Yamanashi 401-0301
Opening hours: 9am-5:30pm / 9:30am-5pm (winter)
Admission fee: ¥600
www.gemmuseum.jp/en/
ANGIE & JAMES DO STUFF 
Oh wow! Love this post!!! I love rocks too and not the diamond ones. I once went to a rock museum in Geraldton western Australia and nearly loaded my suitcase with them. Really it would have been ‘have you got rocks in your suitcase’ – errr, yes I have! Thankfully I persuaded myself not to buy them. My absolute favourite from Australia was zebra rock. Lovely post! I will have to go there sometime.
Haha, I love your story! I used to collect pretty rocks as a kid. For some reason, I was very drawn to them. Whether at crystal shops or the banks of rivers, I’d carefully pick through the best of them. Mother nature is very good at making amazing things! Australian zebra rocks are beautiful, and funny you should mention them – I actually very recently purchased a pendant made of zebra rock (in New Zealand of all places)!
Thanks for sharing, Gabrielle! xx
they have quite an extensive selection and I must’ve missed it when I was at Lake Kawaguchi. I used to collect some in the past. Love tanzanite, herkimer diamonds, rutile quartz, sandstones and wood fossils, as well as amethyst with hematite needle inclusion. this post brings back fond memories, thanks!!
Ahh, it seems you are quite well-versed in your knowledge of gemstones! I have found a soulmate! HAHAHA. I love tanzanite as well (the colour!), and petrified wood and herkimer diamonds are just lovely! I’m probably the biggest fan of labradorite, sodalite, kyanite, charoite and larimar. OMG, mother nature is just the best, isn’t she? Anyway, thank you for sharing! :)
Those special huge pieces of rocks are just dreamy material! The jewelry that they made out of it is priceless, I think! Waw!!! :)
I love gems! This is paradise!!! I wish I could go there. Couldn’t find anything similar in Victoria : (
I’m am recently crazy about Opal! The darker ones are lovely because of the contrast: D
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