Join the extraordinary journey of Japan’s traditional pearl divers through the lens of freediving. This video captures the ...

Nearly a minute has passed yet the sea in front of us remains still, save for a ring-shaped life preserver bobbing upon its surface. Inside it is a mesh net, known as a sukari, filled with red, yellow ...

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. The elderly women sit in a semicircle by a smouldering fire, warming up after diving for shellfish delicacies in the cool waters off the ...

In a coastal hut in Mie Prefecture, a charcoal fire burns at the center as ama — "sea woman" in Japanese, who make a living by free-diving for seafood — warm their hands, or grill fresh catch for ...

Ama simply means woman of the sea and refers to these Japanese women, who practice free diving. A job traditionally reserved for women, as it did not require them to go to sea in a boat like the ...

The Blue Pearl depicts the interplay between a young man from Tokyo and two ama (pearl divers; literally “women of the sea”) in a superstitious coastal town. Though raised within the same ...