A group of Japanese grannies emerges from a boat returning to shore. Clad in black wetsuits and bubbling with energy, they are part of a dwindling community of “ama” — freediving fisherwomen.
As they compare the hauls of shellfish they have gathered, the women — who range from 60 to 80 years old — could be mistaken for teenagers underneath the water, gliding gracefully in the dark depths of the Pacific.
“I really feel like I am a mermaid among the fish, it’s a fantastic sensation,” says Hideko Koguchi, an ama in the coastal town of Toba.
Dressed in her full ama outfit — a mask that covers her eyes and nose, flippers and a black wetsuit that replaced a white version worn until the 1960s — Ms. Koguchi sheds the weight of her years.
During the diving season, which lasts for 10 months a year, the local fishing association scrutinises weather forecasts and information on marine stocks each day, before issuing a call for the women from loudspeakers.
Each ama — which means “woman of the sea” — has only rudimentary equipment: a buoyant ring to signal her presence at the surface while she dives, and a net to hold her haul.
Out at sea, the women set up their rings and then dip beneath the surface, sometimes holding their breath for more than a minute.
Historical artefacts suggest the tradition in Japan dates back “at least 3,000 years,” said Shuzo Kogure, an ama specialist and researcher at the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology.
