Aging 'ama' divers defy tide of time

20 meters deep? WOW, I knew they had to dive but I thought maybe 3 or 4 meters. respect for these old women keeping the tradition in stand....

Are these the ladies who were featured in a National Geographic documentary? It was amazing.

Wow... 20 meters deep and at 70 years old. Sadly, the culture is going the way of the dinosaur, same with tea-leaf picking, etc. What can you do? Total credit to these women.

There's an inescapable romance about things done in old fashioned ways. But at some point, the ama will be as functional a part of the fishing industry as the men who use cormorants. Hopefully the tradition will survive at some level.

I hope this will go on for many more years- Japan wouldn't be the same to me and so many admirers of these ,in my mind, National Treasures!