About 130 ama divers are based in the city located near ... north to waters off Hegurajima and Nanatsujima islands. Wearing a wetsuit, mask and flippers, they take a deep breath and dive more ...

Ama dive without oxygen tanks – relying on ... But in the 1960s, rubber wetsuits and flippers replaced the original white cloth garments worn by women divers. “This offered better insulation ...

About 60 years ago, they relented and adopted the wetsuit, but only when they’re in the water. While the men went out on their boats to fish, the Ama would dive. They carried stones around their ...

Yoshino Uemura came late to the world of female ama divers, taking the plunge in her 40s. But now, over two decades later, she feels there is no time to lose if her chosen profession is to survive for ...

An ama free-diver carries on a 2000-year tradition as ... We hear how, as young girls, these women started diving without oxygen tanks and wetsuits, collecting abalone and shellfish.

Many also tuck omamori, or protective talismans, into their wetsuits to ward off danger beneath the waves ... she moved to Shima in 2014 to learn the ancient craft. “I believe the work of ama divers ...

Across Japan, only about 2,000 ama divers are left ... and does so with minimal equipment: a wetsuit, fins and a diving belt made from rope and stones. There are concerns that the ama fishing ...

Yoshino Uemura came late to the world of female “ama” divers, taking the plunge in her 40s. But now, over two decades later, she feels there is no time to lose if her chosen profession is to ...