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Many Japanese cities have recently sought to rebrand themselves and appeal to tourists and younger residents through such moe (adorable) mascots. “Most of the reaction we’ve received from the public so far has been positive,” a Shima tourism official told the AFP. “We may consider changing the mascot’s design to avoid hurting some people’s feelings. … But at this point we have no plan to retract our official approval for the character.”

However, those calling for the character’s removal object not only to its sexism, but also its inaccuracy. Aoshima Megu wears a traditional ama outfit, a far cry from the costumes favored by contemporary divers. The character’s age is also misleading, as most of Shima’s divers are in their 60s or older. “ama in our city are all risking their lives to dive. In the past, some have died. It’s that serious, being an ama,” Utsubo told Japan Times. “It’s for the honor of those who died that I’m fighting. My mom is angry, too.”

Cartoon images of young women with exaggerated body features are common in Japan and have attracted criticism.

The mascot spat also comes just weeks after Tokyo’s 2020 Olympic logo triggered plagiarism claims due to its resemblance to the logo of a Belgian theatre and a separate Spanish design.

Developed by the company Maribon, the offending mascot has its own blog, Twitter account, and a popular line of stickers. It exists in two different versions: one a smaller, child-like figure, the other a more adult take, with Barbie-like features.

The official website describes Megu as a 17-year-old girl who greatly admires her grandmother, a veteran diver. Megu dreams of becoming a “cute, fashionable” ama. She has a vivacious personality but is a bit clumsy, the narrative says, adding she is currently looking for a boyfriend.

“We wanted to portray Aoshima Megu as an ama apprentice whose diving skills are still amateurish but who is so passionate about her career and likable that everybody will want to root for her,” said Tomoyo Inoue, a Shima official.

She rejected Utsubo’s claim that the mascot is intended to titillate male viewers.

However, Inoue acknowledged that several factors are far-fetched: Megu’s attire, a traditional ama uniform called an isogi, does not resemble that worn by real-life divers today, and the fact that she is 17 is out of keeping with the reality that many ama divers in the city are in their 60s or older.

“She looks different from real-life ama divers, yes. There is no doubt about it,” Inoue said. “But the thing is, we’re not trying to make her look real in the first place. She is an anime character, after all.”

The character has attracted a following already. Virtual stickers featuring Megu’s likeness for use on the messaging app Line were purchased by 15,000 people from 10 countries within two weeks of their release in early May, the city said.

While the Aoshima Megu character’s unseemly mix of infantilism and sexualization is undoubtedly offensive, it is hardly the first time that the ama divers have been portrayed in an exotic or erotic manner. Arguably Hokusai’s most famous ukiyo-e woodblock print, “The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife” (1814), shows a diver sexually entangled with two octopi, and many historical photographs of the divers — most notably those taken by Yoshiyuki Iwase — portrayed them in an overtly sexualized way.

Ama – The Pearl Diving Mermaids of Japan

One of the lesser-known but fascinating parts of Japanese culture is that of the Ama pearl divers. Ama (海女 in Japanese), literally means ‘woman of the sea’ and is recorded as early as 750 in the oldest Japanese anthology of poetry, the Man’yoshu. These women specialised in freediving some 30 feet down into cold water wearing nothing more than a loincloth. Utilising special techniques to hold their breath for up to 2 minutes at a time, they would work for up to 4 hours a day in order to gather abalone, seaweed and other shellfish.

The most profitable pursuit however was diving for pearls. Traditionally for Ama, finding a pearl inside an oyster was akin to receiving a large bonus while they went about their ancestral practice of collecting shellfish. That changed when Kokichi Mikimoto, founder of Mikimoto Pearl, began his enterprise.

Mikimoto used Ama divers to look after his cultivated pearls on Mikimoto Pearl Island, near Toba city. This business was the main reason for the strong association between Ama and pearl diving among foreign observers that continues to this day. Another little-known fact is that the ‘traditional’ white attire we often see Ama divers wearing was also created by Mikimoto. He observed how surprised the foreign tourists visiting his pearl island were when seeing the Ama diving naked wearing only their traditional loincloth.

The role of the Mikimoto ama was to collect the oysters from the seabed so that the pearl-producing nucleus may be inserted. Once this critical process was completed, the ama then carefully returned the oysters to the seabed – in a place where they were protected from external dangers (such as typhoons and red tide).

In order to successfully complete this process, each diver would have to hold her breath for up to two minutes at a time in often freezing cold waters. Upon surfacing, the ama opened their mouths slightly and exhaled slowly, making a whistling sound known as ‘Isobue’.

While traditional ama divers wore only a fundoshi (loincloth) to make it easier to move in the water and a tenugui (bandanna) around their head to cover their hair, Mikimoto ama wore a full white diving costume and used a wooden barrel as a buoy. They were connected to this buoy by a rope and would use it to rest and catch their breath between dives.

Although the tradition is still maintained across many parts of Japan, the skinny-dipping practices of old have largely been lost. Since the Meiji era, divers wore goggles for clarity and from 1964, rubbery, black wetsuits were introduced.

One photographer in particular stands out with his photographs of the Ama. His name was Yoshiyuki Iwase (1904-2001). He was given a gift of a small Kodak camera when young and found his muse in the beautiful mermaids of the tired, coastal regions of Japan. Thanks to his efforts, we can take a step back in time and have a glimpse at what life was like working as an Ama diver, and also see his progression as a photographer moving into nude portraits.

One of the reasons Ama are largely female is said to be their thicker layer of fat than their male counterparts to help them endure the cold water during long periods of diving. Another reason is the self-supporting nature of the profession, allowing women to live independently and foster strong communities. Perhaps most surprisingly however, is the old age to which these women are able to keep diving. Most Ama are elderly women (some even surpassing 90 years of age) who have practiced the art for many, many years, spending much of their life at sea.

With lack of young women to succeed their elders and modernisation of Japan’s fisheries however, this ancient practice is dwindling. Numbers have dropped to just 1/8th of what they once were. In 1956 there were 17,611 Ama in Japan but as of 2010 only 2,174 remained. Of those, 973 (nearly half) work in either Toba or Shima city, Mie prefecture.

As technology progressed, the Ama communities were faced with decisions – adopt new tools and equipment or retain traditions? One of the most important parts of the decision-making was consideration of sustainability. New fishing methods could easily enable greater hauls and reduce work, but at the same time, increase the risk of overfishing and damage the delicate ecosystems that supported life for these coastal towns. Rules were introduced to prevent this.

On Hegura island in Wajima city, rules state that abalone under 10 centimetres must be returned to the sea, with a punishment of two days without work if caught breaking them. Despite their efforts however, numbers of abalone and other shellfish have been in decline, in part due to overfishing, but also the rising sea temperatures which affects the growth of seaweed the shellfish eat.

This culture of national mermaids diving for the nation is not only unique to Japan however. From 2007 Korea has been presenting its best case to have the Haenyo divers of Jeju Island listed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. In similar fashion, Japan has now joined the races by recommending its own female divers, boosted by the popularity of a recent NHK drama ‘Amachan‘, starring a young girl who moves to the Tohoku region of Japan to became an Ama diver.

Lastly then, here’s the poem from the Man’yoshu that mentions Ama divers.

沖つ島　い行き渡りて　潜くちふ　鮑玉もが　包みて遣らむ　（万葉集）

>>2101

oldschool tentacle pron

>>2102

thanks for posting; i was curious how irl ama divers looked like

I'm an asian butt enthusiast and I approve this thread. Especially the pictures that contain asian butts. Keep up the good work!