Page 172 - Dark Matter Women Witnessing

Be fluid. Except when it comes to co-op regulations. No scuba. No hoses. No sonar.

No exceeding the time limits. No hunting anywhere outside Kaiyono.

If your grandmother and her grandmother hadn't obeyed the rules, you and I wouldn't be

what we are.

You understand why, don't you? Ama follow the awabi as we follow our mothers. Even

to death and vanishing.

When the daughter came at last, she was so slimy and crimson like a sea cucumber

that despite Hideki's best efforts, Sumiko refused to name her anything but Namako (b.

1983). She played in the ocean, and Sumiko said: Tell me what kind of mood she's in.

Sad, said Namako. Hotel sewage was nothing compared to the industrial pollution

flooding sky and sea from all over Japan, especially from power companies. Sumiko

convinced Hideki to join a group of fishermen who took a wriggling lobster to visit the

Prime Minister, hoping to persuade him to strengthen environmental policies. Nothing

changed except that frustrated husbands took up drinking, seaweeds withered, and

shellfish died of poisoning.

To give the ocean every chance, the ama progressively curtailed their diving periods.

By Namako's third birthday, Sumiko's daily dive was barely longer than an hour. Her

annual income, which in the 1960s topped ¥8,000,000, fell to ¥40,000 (roughly $4,000).