SHIMA, Japan (AFP) – Mieko Kitai takes a huge gulp of air as she surfaces from the clear, blue waters of Japan's Pacific coast with a large abalone in her hand. Now in her 70s, the dive -- with ...

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 ...

It’s 2017, and we’re surrounded by noise. Phones and computers chime in thousands of different tones and timbres as social media streams flood us with more information than we could ever digest; there ...

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 ...

MINAMIBOSO, Japan, July 22 (Reuters) - 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 ...

Now in her 70s, the dive — with nothing more than a mask — does not get any easier and the pickings get slimmer with every passing year. But she and her fellow divers or ‘ama’ — which roughly ...