Japan’s free-diving ama divers are the stuff of legend. Learn how you can get a firsthand look at these women who harvest the sea’s riches.

Ama, or female divers, ... It is said that because they only wore a loincloth in the past, even during the winter, maintaining body heat was a matter of life and death.

The whole Ama community were joking and laughing about me.” Advertisement In 2011, Kehrer Verlag published Poppe’s book, called AMA , which is an 88-page look at her time with the divers.

Many of the Ama divers in Ise-Shima can be found in the town of Osatsu in Toba. Here the oldest diver is aged 83, a woman with more than 70 years of experience. ... wearing just white loincloths.

Bearing torches that lit up the night as they swam out into the ocean, Japan's storied "ama" prayed for an abundant catch in a ceremony held by these female free divers for decades. This year ...

Currently, the 69-year-old is one of 110 active Ama divers from the Osatsu Area in Toba City. In addition to diving, she supplements her income with a part-time job at a local hotel and has a plot ...

The Ama are Japan’s last population of female shell divers. But with their way of life and culture increasingly under threat, could this be the end of an age-old tradition?

The ama didn't always wear white suits - their traditional attire consisted of fundoshi (loincloths) and tenugui (bandannas) that covered their hair.The only modern concessions that ama today have ...

The ama divers of Ise-Shima, Japan’s sea-women, carry on a centuries-old tradition of freediving for seafood, blending adventure with cultural preservation.

Japan’s free-diving ama divers are the stuff of legend. Learn how you can get a firsthand look at these women who harvest the sea’s riches.