Introduction

In the summer of 2023, I visited Jeju Island on a recreational trip with my mom and aunt. Upon climbing into the bright yellow Kakao Taxi, our ears met the sound of the taxi driver bantering loudly with his wife over speakerphone. The three of us sat in silence for the duration of the phone call, peering out the windows to a view of billboards planted into volcanic rock. Painted onto them were cartoon images of haenyeo (Jeju’s female freedivers), dol hareubang (grandfather sculptures made of Jeju’s volcanic rock), and Jeju gyul (tangerines unique to the island). Throughout Korean history, Jeju Island has been known for its samda (three abundances): rocks, winds, and women.^[1]

After concluding the phone call, our taxi driver apologizes, “Sorry for being on the phone. That was my wife. Are you all from Seoul?” My aunt responds, “I am from Seoul, but this is my younger sister and her youngest daughter from America.” He responded, “Ohhh migug salam (American people)...did you come to see the haenyeo? My wife is a haenyeo! There are not that many anymore.” He dropped us off at our first destination: Jeju Dongmun Fish Market. Parched from the late July heat, my mom approached a stand selling Jeju Island’s tangerines. While the saleswoman vivaciously advertised why her tangerines were far sweeter than those of neighboring stands, I noticed a round orange floating device propped up next to her lawn chair — a tewak. I could not help but wonder if the woman my mom bought a bag of tangerines from was related to a haenyeo diver or was one herself. Inspired by this trip, I attempted to piece together a narrative about the freediving fisherwomen.

Figure 1. Underwater photo of a haenyeo diver catching an octopus.^[2]

Award-winning Brazilian photographer Luciano Candisani traveled to Jeju Island in the late 2010s, fully immersing himself in the daily practice of the divers. Reflecting on the vivid ways haenyeo navigate volcanic rocks and powerful waves, Candisani’s account embodies a common fascination with these women’s physical endurance and unique breath-holding abilities.

Each of the haenyeo has a tewak: a collection net attached to a large orange float, and I imagine what the nets will look like when swollen with a treasure of glistening shells in a few hours. Sooner than I expect, the tewaks have been thrown overboard and now the floats bob on the surface, marking each diver’s patch.…She must make it through the powerful breaking waves, swimming past sharp volcanic rocks. Just watching it makes my adrenaline rise…Her tewak holds her bulging collection sack, filled with conches, sea urchins, sea cucumbers.^[3]

Portrayals of Korean haenyeo across diverse media mirror Candisani’s fascination. Because of their advanced diving techniques and centuries-long contributions to local economies, outsiders refer to them as the “mermaids” of South Korea.^[4] Meanwhile, journalists and scholars alike frequently uphold them as symbols of female resilience, environmental stewardship, or cultural heritage.

Like Jeju Island’s haenyeo divers, the ama divers of Japan contribute to their local economies through diving for seafood without equipment. Despite being separate nations, Korea and Japan exhibit striking similarities, particularly evident in their shared geographical features and fishing regions connected by the sea. The Korea Strait serves as a vital sea passage in the northwest Pacific Ocean, including the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea. Overlapping diving traditions in Japan and Korea’s Jeju Island due to the surrounding ocean, such as the practice of constructing tower-like structures out of volcanic rocks before a fishing excursion, reflect their comparable climates and geologies. The concentration of haenyeo diving practices on Jeju Island in Korea contrasts with the broader distribution of ama divers across Japan, particularly in areas like the Ise-Shima region, renowned for hosting about half of Japan’s ama divers. Despite Kyushu’s historical significance in diving, it may not have been as tourism-centric as other regions. Notably, Mikimoto Island, despite its lack of historical association with fishing or diving, gained prominence in the industry. This diversity of observations highlights the complexity and contradictions inherent in understanding the cultural and historical contexts of haenyeo and ama divers.

In the 21st century, Japan’s ama divers primarily exist as a domestic and international tourist attraction on Mikimoto Pearl Island. The homepage of Mikimoto Pearl Island tourism website opens with: “Fearless Ama Divers, Precious Pearls, and Exquisite Seafood Await You.”^[5] The opening line is followed by advertisements for various ama-related experiences including, “Ama Adventure Tour!,” “Ama Sea Glass Workshop & Beach Clean,” and “Ama Diver Seafood Lunch.” When advertising the Ama Hut restaurants, the website states, “Indulge in a seafood barbecue prepared by local Ama divers. Later, walk around Osatsu, home to Japan’s largest community of Ama divers, while experiencing the local Ama culture.”^[6] Despite this publicity, the reality is that fewer than twelve hundred ama divers are active today.^[7] As fewer younger women express interest in practicing this ancient fishing technique and demand for their services diminish, ama divers continue to face a steady decline. These tourist activities serve as evidence of how the freediving women stand in as eye-catching symbols for tourism and remnants of an idealized past.

Against this background, I examine how, over the 20th and 21st centuries, observers—including scientists, journalists, tourists, environmentalists, and nationalists—have constructed and circulated narratives of women divers that serve multiple cultural and socio-political purposes. I show how some of the earliest accounts treated the divers as subjects of physiological study, marveling at their extraordinary lung capacity and resilience. Turning to the Maelishinbo newspaper from the early 20th century, I discuss how haenyeo were enlisted as symbols of Korean resistance under Japanese occupation, highlighting a powerful nationalist thread absent among their Japanese counterparts. From there, I consider how contemporary environmental scholars increasingly invoke the haenyeo and ama to illustrate the effects of climate change on coastal regions. Finally, I examine how issues of class inequality and cultural preservation also intersect with these women’s lived experiences. By tracing these disparate portrayals, I argue that the haenyeo and ama divers have become conduits for broader ideological agendas—ranging from nationalism to environmentalism—often overshadowing the personal narratives of individual divers. This study sets the stage for a closer look at how various observers, historical documents, and research endeavors have shaped perceptions of these women over time.

I. Physiological Studies and Narratives of Scientific Understanding

To accomplish their objectives, these divers often undergo rigorous physical experiences, reaching depths of around forty fathoms and searching underwater while holding their breath for up to four or five minutes.^[8] Each diver competes to surpass the others’ catch — some divers even sustain severe injuries if they come into contact with the rocks. In addition to functioning as receptacles for cultural preservation and symbols of national resilience, ama and haenyeo divers have been studied by field researchers for their impressive breath-holding ability, their retention of heat underwater, and their capacity to recover from physical injuries.

Early explorations of these women’s physiological capacities date back to the mid-twentieth century when scientists focused on their breath-holding and temperature-regulation abilities. For instance, a 1965 official statement from Wallace O. Fenn, Secretary of the International Union of Physiological Sciences, reveals how cross-disciplinary interest brought the divers’ feats into the public eye. It stated,

The water temperature in which non-diving subjects shiver after three hours immersion is cooler, the thicker the layer of subcutaneous fat. However, diving women, who are unusually lean, tolerate without shivering much cooler water temperatures than non-divers of comparable fat thickness. Maximal body insulation is a direct linear function of subcutaneous fat thickness (SF) such that I = 0.014 (SE = 0.002) SF + 0.0094 for Korean non-divers of all ages. Young women have significantly greater maximal body insulation than young men because of their greater average fat thickness.^[9]

Such findings established a baseline from which later scientific inquiry would evolve. Although heavily influenced by the burgeoning international collaborations and the growing field of physiology of the mid-twentieth century, the work underlined the divers’ physical singularity, inspiring subsequent generations of researchers to test, refine, or contest its conclusions.

Later observers, such as Sarah Fuchs, who wrote as both a photographer and traveling blogger, attribute the predominance of female free divers to factors ranging from the historical loss of male fishermen to physiological advantages such as “women’s fat reserves supposedly making them more resistant to cold water.”^[10] Similar to the aforementioned studies, these twenty-first-century perspectives tie women’s higher fat percentage to their remarkable success underwater. However, they also speak to contemporary concerns about how cultural narratives and global audiences perceive these divers.

Building upon the earlier and more recent lines of research, twenty-first-century scholarship continues to investigate the ama and haenyeo from a physiological standpoint. In 2016, Tanaka, Tomoto, Kosaki, and Sugawara released a physiological study about arterial stiffness in ama divers, comparing “a total of 115 Japanese pearl divers…The comparison groups included physically inactive adults and physically active adults living in the same fishing villages. All the subjects were free of overt cardiovascular diseases.”^[11] Their results reveal a notable reduction in arterial stiffness among Japanese pearl divers compared to inactive individuals of similar age. Whereas the 1965 data focused on body insulation and shivering, these modern findings examine cardiovascular markers such as arterial wave reflection indices, suggesting a movement towards capturing a more holistic picture of divers’ health. Interestingly — and quite unlike earlier notions that breath-holding capacity might simply correlate with elevated pulmonary function — some divers’ lung capacity was not significantly higher than that of their inactive counterparts.

Pulmonary function in physically inactive controls, physically active adults, and pearl divers.^[12]

Juxtaposing mid-twentieth-century physiological studies with contemporary investigations reveals how different historical and scientific contexts have shaped the questions posed about divers. Early research teams in the 1960s operated within a burgeoning field of international physiology, interested primarily in thermoregulation and fundamental breath-holding mechanics. Scientific questions about female divers’ physiological adaptations still drive research in the present day, but modern scholars situate these inquiries within broader discussions of health, aging, politics, and cultural perception. Researchers in the 2010s, by contrast, placed greater emphasis on cardiovascular health, longevity, and lifestyle factors. Examined together, these sources illustrate the evolving nature of scientific inquiry, demonstrating how each generation’s investigative priorities and methods shed new light on the enduring mystique surrounding these female freedivers.

II. Early Encounters with the Haenyeo and Ama Divers

Korean journalism about the haenyeo divers often places the women on a pedestal of respect. A translated version of the article “A New Look at Korean Gender Roles: Jeju Women Divers as a World Cultural Heritage” depicts haenyeo divers as stewards of national identity, stating that they “serve as an example of equitable gender roles in small island societies, different from or beyond the scope of traditional Korean Confucian stereotypes, and have contributed to their village and island politically, economically, and culturally as a whole.”^[13] Synthesizing interviews with Jeju Island residents, the article reveals how haenyeo organized voluntary associations known as Jamsuhoi, which utilized democratic voting and decision-making processes to address local village matters. Leveraging their collective power, they spearheaded a four-month-long uprising from January to April of 1932, protesting against Japanese control over marine products in their coastal communities. Economically, they sustained their households by selling products in markets, enabling them to support family members’ education. The haenyeo kept their families afloat and played a pivotal role in shaping Jeju Island’s political system.

As for the ama, in Chamberlain’s collection of research, Things Japanese, he ascribed a 19th-century British point-of-view onto the relationship between Japanese women and society, in contrast with the aforementioned depictions of the haenyeo. He wrote, “Japanese women are most womanly – kind, gentle, pretty. But the way in which they are treated by the men has hitherto been such as might cause a pang to any generous European heart.”^[14] Chamberlain conveyed a paternalistic sense of pity for Japanese women expected to toil without appreciation from their male counterparts. However, in the discussion on women’s ability to lead, he explained the relationship between women’s status and their social classes:

For the sake of fairness and completeness, it should be added that the subjugation of women is not carried out in the lower classes of Japanese society to the same extents as in the middle and upper…In these lower classes the wife shares not only her husband’s toil, but his counsels; and if she happens to have the better head of the two, she it is who will keep the purse and govern the family.^[15]

Considering that fishing was viewed as a lower-class profession at the time of Chamberlain’s writings, his observations on middle-upper-class women’s subjugation likely contrasted with the ama’s actual status in society.

To highlight the contrasting views on women’s roles in society, I now turn to the perception of the haenyeo in the Korean context, particularly during periods of national struggle. From its early days, the Maeilshinbo newspaper exhibited nationalist and patriotic undertones, evident in its coverage of the haenyeo. The Maeilshinbo, South Korea’s oldest continuous newspaper, was published in Seoul from 1904 until it ceased publication in 1945. Following its closure, the Seoul Shinmoon continued some of its legacy in shaping national discourse, playing an active role in the peninsula’s post-war affairs, including setting up a special fund for government bond compensations after the Korean War. During the Maeilshinbo’s circulation, however, island-centric perspectives often contrasted with the mainland’s nationalist narratives.^[16] Although other Korean newspapers faced censorship, the Maeilshinbo was widely distributed during Japanese occupation. Its articles underline the haenyeo’s influence in upholding Korean identity amidst the Japanese occupation, as well as their influence in public and private enterprises on Jeju Island.

To further explore the evolving perception of haenyeo during the colonial period, it is important to examine how their roles were framed in the context of gender and societal expectations. Although traditionally viewed through a lens of female repression, Confucian feudalism, and colonial control, the haenyeo emerged as figures of empowerment, challenging both gender roles and economic limitations in their communities. Although housework — such as childcare, “cooking, cleaning, and washing — is mainly regarded as women’s work, during the busy diving season, the husbands and children of divers shared these duties with the haenyeo.”^[17] In the journal article “Portraits of Jeju Haenyeo as Models of Empowerment in the Korean Newspaper Maeilshinbo during Japanese Occupation,” Seohyeon Lee unveils the divers’ cultural relevance by analyzing their portrayals in the news articles of the Maeilshinbo. Within “a structure of female repression, Confucian feudalism, and colonization,” Lee demonstrates how the haenyeo served as “emancipatory pioneers and voluntary economic agents.”^[18] An article published in the Maeilshinbo on June 19, 1913, described when female divers deliberated and cast votes on strategies to address the issue of steep access fees to the fishing grounds. This situation led to an increasing number of migrant divers, unable to afford the fees and forced to return to Jeju with greater frequency: “On 10 of this month, the members of Women Divers Representative Council of the villages and the diver Haeok Song appeared at the headquarters of the Fishery Association and resolved to hold a mass rally in Busan on 17 led by Jeju women divers to publicly request the reduction of entry fees to fishing grounds and submit the petition to the authority.”^[19] The article displays the haenyeo’s leadership as they organized a democratic decision-making body on Jeju Island during a tumultuous period of the nation’s history.

Comparing the roles and struggles of haenyeo in Korea with those of working women in Japan provides insight into the varying experiences of women in East Asia during the colonial and early industrial periods. While haenyeo in Jeju Island held significant political and economic influence, Japanese women, particularly in the workforce, faced greater challenges in gaining status and transforming gender-biased systems, despite improvements in legal rights after World War II. Janet Hunter cites previous authors such as Tsurumi, Molony, and Gordon to illustrate how “even in the early stages of industrialization,” Japanese women faced fierce opposition to increasing their status within the workforce.^[20] Facing economic instability in their jobs and a shortage of male allies and leaders, challenging and transforming the gender-biased system became increasingly difficult for them. In contrast to the political space haenyeo women held, Japanese working women struggled to unite and advocate for significant alterations in the workplace, despite improved legal rights after the Second World War.

III. Debunking the Oversimplification of Gender Divisions in Ama and Haenyeo Communities

Examining the nuanced roles of ama and haenyeo divers reveals that simplistic gender divisions fail to capture the multifaceted realities of fishing communities in Japan and South Korea. Joy Hendry’s Understanding Japanese Society reveals that Japanese “professional housewives” not only understand the rationale behind their roles but also actively capitalize on the benefits they offer. According to Hendry, these women view their commitment to domestic duties as a legitimate choice within the labor market, complete with its own set of responsibilities and financial compensations.^[21] By assuming this role, a wife enables her husband to fully concentrate on advancing his career, thereby enhancing the overall financial well-being of the family. Hunter explains how these women may receive “less tangible returns; the work of the professional housewife serves to enhance the present and future welfare of the household unit concerned, a practice which Hendry sees as analogous to the traditional Japanese concern with the welfare of the home.”^[22] Having a wife who stays at home also signified social prestige in Japanese society. However, D.P. Martinez’s research reveals a significant gap between this ideal and the reality of the ama divers’ position.^[23] Despite their vital role in the economy and culture, the ama do not enjoy higher status within their families or society compared to other women, challenging expectations about the perceived prestige of their work.^[24]

Cristina Lim’s research from November 2023 collected qualitative and quantitative data on ama divers in the fishing village on Iki Island, Nagasaki Prefecture. The survey revealed that ama divers “in the Japanese fishing sector women are highly marginalized and the realization of their dreams and quest for social justice is elusive.”^[25] By contrasting their access to resource-management roles and administrative decision-making processes with those of male Japanese fishers, the results of the study “substantiate the important role of women in the fishing communities and affirm the long-standing social problem of their low status in society, especially compared to that of men.”^[26] Citing Lim’s research, the authors of The World of Sea Cucumbers: Challenges, Advances, and Innovations contrast gender differences experienced by haenyeo and ama. As male ama divers entered new labor forces, “women were the ones remaining to dive into a profession considered to be very low in status — a job only the poor or uneducated would choose.”^[27] These findings demonstrate how the comparison between haenyeo and ama divers requires a nuanced understanding of the social hierarchies that persist within their respective communities.

Perceiving the disadvantages they face in breaking down gender inequality in the labor market, many Japanese women, economic circumstances permitting, opted out of the unequal struggle altogether. To understand how outsiders have mistaken the ama for women of high status, one must turn to current anthropological theories of class and gender. Edward Norbeck’s anthropological study Takashima: A Japanese Fishing Community and D.P. Martinez’s essay reveals contradictions between internal and external perceptions of ama divers and the limitations of existing scholarship. Scholars frequently presuppose uniformities of gender discrimination among all Japanese women. Distinctions in status among the Japanese, often interpreted through the lens of class, play a significant role. For instance, fishing communities are traditionally viewed as having a lower status compared to other groups. While this perception was once possibly linked to poverty and class distinctions, such associations no longer hold. Norbeck explains how this incongruence “makes sense only if we consider the issue of status in the Weberian sense, where class and status can be but are not necessarily the same.”^[28] These narratives emphasize all fisherfolk as occupying a lower class and this conceit pervades these studies. This explains the unique portrayal of the ama community, where women are traditionally seen as having a higher status relative to men than is typical for other Japanese women.

While haenyeo divers could only be women, ama divers consisted of both men and women – with women performing the task more frequently as the male workforce has transitioned to higher-paying labor.^[29] Therefore, the term ama can be deceptive. The word's meaning changes based on the characters used to write it, encompassing a range of definitions related to fishing — whether it refers to a fisherman, a woman who dives for seafood, or fisherfolk as a whole. The intricacies involved in constructing gender relations and depicting appropriate behaviors for each gender cannot be simplified into the outdated quest of exploring why women are considered subordinate to men. Norbeck explains how the ama are unique because both men and women possess expertise in fishing and underwater harvesting.^[30] This characterization allows for a more accurate understanding of the ama’s position in Japanese society vis-à-vis men. While fishing using lines, hooks, and nets is predominantly carried out by men, women mainly engage in harvesting seaweed, transporting seawater for salt production, diving for abalones, and salting and drying fish.^[31] These records recount this propensity for diving and fishing, alongside the division of labor between men and women in these activities.

Both Martinez and Hendry gave complex depictions of the relationship between occupation, social status, and economic impact. In particular, they suggested that for Japanese women, marital circumstances, more so than occupation, mediated status. Martinez also indicated that any assumption of congruence between modes of production and forms of social organization is often ill-founded and difficult to prove. While some women may respond to an inequitable position in the workplace by opting out, for many, women labor force participation is either necessary or desirable, or both.^[32] In 1930, around 49 percent of the female population worked, and between the wars, women comprised 35 to 40 percent of the total labor force.^[33] When the anthropologist asked ama divers if they were different from other Japanese women, they replied, “Of course not, don’t we have to care for our children and obey our men as do other Japanese women?” Women forced to work by their position in the social hierarchy are often seen to be more independent than their middle-class counterparts because they break the rules of accepted behavior for women by being loud, perceived as strong, and working in dangerous conditions.^[34] Lim states that ama divers cannot become the head of the family and husbands do not participate in household chores — women will be the last person to eat at the dinner table and are expected to attend to their husband.^[35] However, according to Norbeck, women in these districts of Japan hold a higher status than men, and the birth of a girl is met with widespread celebration by her family. She is raised with utmost attention and care. Conversely, if the child is a boy, he is often sent to be raised by others outside the family. His arrival is typically seen as a disappointment to his parents.^[36] How should these two radically different depictions of the ama’s status in Japanese society be interpreted?

Feminist movements of the contemporary period played a crucial role in reshaping anthropological perspectives, particularly regarding the significance of women performing ancient methods of production. Japanese researchers shifted their focus towards women’s production, leading researchers to assume an elevated status for women within these communities; however, this emphasis neglected the equally vital role of women in reproduction.^[37] On the Japanese main islands, diving became predominantly associated with women, possibly due to its compatibility with childcare responsibilities.^[38] In Hunter’s compilation of essays about Japanese women as economic agents, she includes an excerpt by Dolores Martinez citing Kondo: “The truth is far more complex than this simplistic picture drawn by outsiders, just as the reality of male and female relationships in all of Japan is far too complex to be reduced to an uchi (domestic/interior) and soto (public/exterior) dichotomy.”^[39] In the case of female Japanese divers, they not only contributed significantly to production and earned substantial income but also navigated the same intricate network of marriage and kinship ties as other Japanese women.

IV. Media Depictions in Photography and Television

Photographic journalism functions as a powerful tool in capturing an unfettered, or less-fettered, image of the haenyeo and ama. The photographer must directly engage with the divers, gaining insight into how the divers speak and act outside of the context of a formal interview. In this section, I utilize Y. Zin’s portraiture book Haenyeo: Women Divers of Korea, which features images alongside observations from her visits throughout the 2010s. Describing a haenyeo diver at work, Zin wrote, “A basket full of her catch weighs 60kg. Putting it on her back with no difficulty, she says, grinning. ‘You guys always take pictures of me like this and say I’m living a tough life.’ And she laughs heartily. She doesn’t think she is leading a tough life.’ She says she is happy living diligently every day.”^[40] This exchange between Zin and the haenyeo illustrates how a haenyeo is both aware of assumptions outsiders made about her profession and how she finds them comical.

Taking photos of the haenyeo since 2012, Zin is privy to numerous tales from elderly divers on the island and accounts of their habits and mannerisms. For example, Zin records that most haenyeo speak “with a big voice”:

I used to be embarrassed when they shouted at me. ‘What’s that [the camera] for?’ I was afraid they were angry at me because of my camera. As time passed though, I came to understand why their voices grew louder. They don't know about equalization. Instead, every morning before diving, they would chew gum and stop their ears with the chewed gum as it helps ease the pain in their ears deep down underwater. With their ears clogged. they cannot help speaking in loud voices. It took time for me to learn they were trying to be kind, speaking to me while they were busy. So l reply raising my voice even louder!”^[41]

In an interview with Underwater 360, an online diving hub, Zin describes her motivation for the haenyeo portrait project: “I hope to shoot a unique portrait of the Haenyeo, one that exemplifies and captures their spirit.”^[42] Zin’s images and candid records showcase that these women are capable of performing a remarkable profession on their own merits, highlighting the value in doing something remarkable simply for its own sake.

20th-century photography and media played a role in making the image of the ama and haenyeo divers increasingly touristic. Throughout the 20th century, Italian photographer and anthropologist Fosco Maraini famously documented these extraordinary women and exported their image to audiences abroad through his Hekura: The diving girls’ island. Through photography, he sought to capture the vital role the ama play in the cultivation of pearls and the remarkable acts of physical resilience demonstrated in their work.^[43] However, visual representations possess the power to both clarify and perpetuate misconceptions about the divers’ status and roles. For example, English writer Ian Fleming repurposed material from Maraini’s Hekura: The diving girls’ island while writing “You Only Live Twice,” an American television show that gained popularity in the 1960s. In the show, Fleming created the character Kissy Suzuki, a hypersexualized ama diver.^[44] The white actresses with “oriental makeup” appropriated the identities of “Japanese Ama or Pearl-Divers” in the show.^[45] American audiences found the image of the diver irresistible — even manifesting in knockoff ama diving demonstrations in aquariums throughout Florida and California. The influence of cultural representations, such as in literature and media, on the perception of ama both within and outside Japan, demonstrates how different stakeholders project their assumptions and personal desires onto the divers.

Figure 2. “You Only Live Twice” book cover.^[46]

Steve Rebuck’s investigation of Japanese-owned abalone enterprises in California offers another example of the ama reaching an American audience and their lives becoming misrepresented. It also illustrates how male ama divers, compared with their female counterparts, could exercise greater mobility and freedom within the same profession. Rebuck’s study focuses on Gennosuki Kodani, a Japanese ama diver who actively engaged in the abalone business in the Chiba Prefecture of Japan. When he arrived in Monterey, California in the fall of 1897, he was so impressed with what he saw “that he immediately sent for abalone divers known as ama to come to Monterey to quickly capitalize on this abundance.”^[47] In the winter of the same year, the Japanese government issued passports to Nakajiro Kodani, the younger sibling of Gennosuke and a proficient marine biologist, along with Ichinosuke Yasuda, Daisuke Yasuda, and Rinji Yamamoto, all skilled male ama divers.^[48] They reached Monterey towards the end of December, and they immediately commenced their abalone diving practices. The decision to bring these divers to Monterey and the subsequent official support they received from the Japanese government suggest a more organized, intentional immigration effort. This example of cultural export and federal support for immigration to the United States demonstrates how male ama divers could exercise a greater degree of independence than their female counterparts.

This dynamic of male ama divers exercising independence in California not only highlights their personal agency but also parallels the broader cultural representation of ama divers as enduring symbols of resilience, particularly in Japan. Both the haenyeo and ama divers have functioned as national symbols of resilience during times of national hardship. The aforementioned Martinez’s article delves into NHK’s 2013 morning drama “Amachan,” analyzing its portrayal of ama resilience, which mirrors themes of post-war Japan’s narrative. It follows a young woman’s journey to becoming an ama. The narrative intertwines these themes to reflect a post-bubble and post-3/11 Japan, emphasizing the importance of learning from traditional values for happiness and success. The article explores how the hit television show “Amachan” shares the common thread of overcoming adversity with other asadora (morning drama) since 1961. Asadora is a Japanese television drama program series that airs in the morning on Japanese public broadcasting programs, often echoing themes of resilience in post-war Japan. Martinez explained how narratives that center women “often involve long-term depictions of how the Japanese continually have coped with various forms of hardship ranging from surviving the war” to “overcoming familial disapproval” or “contravening social conventions and their restrictions.”^[49] Martinez’s exploration of “Amachan” and its depiction of ama resilience prompts a reflection of post-war Japan’s narrative but also illustrates ama divers as embodiments of female resilience during times of national adversity.

Nationalist perspectives shape the interpretation of diver cultures, as seen in the contrasting ways Korean and Japanese depictions of the haenyeo and ama are framed in the context of national identity and historical rivalry. For example, the divers are used as leverage in the context of Korea-Japan rivalries in the 21st century. In a 2014 culture column article, the Korean Broadcasting System claims that “Japan’s ama originated from Jeju Island’s Haenyeo culture.”^[50] In Japan’s case, scholar Janet Hunter underlines the historical significance of the divers in the Kuzaki village in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan: “The divers of Kuzaki are quite capable of arguing that the term ama indicates their closeness to the deities. In their folk etymology, ama comes from Amaterasu, the village tutelary deity and the mythical ancestress of Japanese people. The people of Kuzaki took on board the Meiji notion that all Japanese were kin.”^[51] Hunter’s analysis exemplifies the ama as receptacles of mythical authenticity and symbols of an old national identity. This theory has served them well in the sector of domestic tourism which searches for the “lost Japan.” These examples show that interpretations of the haenyeo and ama display the tendency of stakeholders to assign nationalist meanings to the divers.

These varied representations — ranging from evocative photographs to television dramas — highlight the ways in which both haenyeo and ama divers have been valorized, misunderstood, and sometimes appropriated in cultural and national narratives. Visual media such as Zin’s contemporary photography and Maraini’s midcentury documentation emphasizes the divers’ everyday reality, revealing their resilience and pride while illustrating the reception of divers’ images in transnational contexts. Yet, as seen with male ama divers’ greater mobility and America’s fascination with the divers’ mystique, these images can also reinforce power imbalances and stereotypes. Finally, the competing nationalist claims in Korea and Japan show how the divers’ legacy is continually reshaped in different historical contexts, including post-war recovery and regional rivalries. Taken together, these depictions affirm the divers’ importance as symbols of female strength, while also cautioning us to recognize how external perspectives can distort or politicize their stories.

V. 21st-Century Rise of Tourism, Feminism, and Decline of Traditional Fishing Practices

The discussion of ama divers’ resistance to technological advances connects directly to broader gender dynamics and their position within Japanese society. As Norbeck’s anthropological study highlights, ama divers fiercely resist innovations, such as foam-rubber suits, that could improve their catch but also lead to overfishing.^[52] This resistance reflects not only a desire to preserve traditional practices but also an assertion of agency within a system that limits their economic and social power. In Japan, women face exclusion from managerial roles in the Fisheries Cooperative Association, which controls fishing rights, and often get dismissed as “noisy and talkative.”^[53] Despite these societal constraints, many ama divers view their work as empowering, offering a chance to earn independently from their husbands, as well as an opportunity to exercise, socialize, and connect with nature. This resistance to technological change thus becomes a form of defiance against both gendered expectations and the encroachment of industrialization, which threatens to replace traditional ama practices with modern, profit-driven fishing and tourism industries.^[54] The shift from these traditional practices to industrialized fishing highlights the broader struggle of ama divers to retain their livelihood and cultural identity amidst the pressures of modernization and gender inequality.

21st-century scholarship and popular media increasingly focus on themes of women’s empowerment, such as the redefinition of traditional gender roles, personal agency, and communal responsibility. The narratives of the haenyeo, as captured in the following excerpts, reveal not only the physical and emotional challenges they face but also the sense of pride, autonomy, and community that define their unique way of life. In an interview, a diver spoke about her desire to shield her daughter from the hardships associated with freediving, while celebrating the rewarding aspects of haenyeo life:

We all give birth at home. You start to have contractions, and then you just push. Back then, after childbirth, you only had a week before you had to go back to work. If I wasn’t there, another mom would take care of the baby, and I would do the same. Before, I didn’t want my daughter to do this work. I didn’t like it in my twenties. I was born and raised and married here (Jeju Island). Back then, the girls from Seoul would have these pale, beautiful faces, and we’d have these dark, tanned faces. But now, I can make money and I have freedom. So I want my daughter to have the same. Wherever I go, I tell people I’m a haenyeo proudly!^[55]

These words reflect feminist principles by emphasizing a woman's right to agency and choice, particularly in how she shapes her and her children’s lives. The diver’s reflection highlights two key aspects of feminism: first, the assertion of a woman’s autonomy in choosing a career and life path that reflects her values, and second, the acknowledgment that the well-being of her daughter — her right to a different, potentially less labor-intensive life — should be prioritized. This challenges traditional views of women’s roles, which often limit them to caregiving and passive participation in family or economic life. Moreover, the diver's pride in her work as a haenyeo contradicts conventional gendered expectations of women as subservient, domestic figures. By asserting her financial independence and freedom, she embodies a form of empowerment that confronts gendered constraints within the familial and economic spheres, offering a clearer articulation of feminist agency.

The haenyeo culture predates many modern feminist movements, yet it inherently challenges patriarchal norms by positioning women as the primary earners and workers in their community. This economic independence grants them a significant degree of autonomy and reshapes societal perceptions of gender capabilities and roles. The Jeju haenyeo fisheries system enabled individuals to sustain their livelihoods, not just at a basic survival level, but also within the context of the local economy, contributing “10% of the fishery production in Jeju and up to 90% of all shellfish exported in 2017 from the island.”^[56] Haenyeo, “worked out the harvest season for each of the products and they never gather any resources in excess. Busy gathering sea cucumbers in winter, sea urchins from March to May, and seaweed in summer, the divers have helped protect the resources and avoid overexploitation.”^[57] The communal aspects of their work, where women support one another both in their diving activities and in childcare, reflect a form of communal feminism. This system not only enables them to pursue their careers but also ensures a supportive network that values collective over individual success, illustrating a powerful model of female solidarity and mutual aid.

The mention of diving up to the due date of pregnancy and returning to work shortly after childbirth speaks to the remarkable physical resilience of the haenyeo. It also highlights their autonomy over their bodies, in stark contrast to narratives that portray women as physically vulnerable. This autonomy extends to their rejection of beauty standards, such as the preference for pale over tanned skin, embracing instead a physical identity defined by strength, resilience, and the marks of their labor. The evolving attitudes towards haenyeo work, as depicted in the interviews, reflect broader feminist themes of choice and the revaluation of women’s labor. Initially seen as an undesirable legacy to pass on due to its hardships, the work of diving is now viewed by some as a source of pride, independence, and community for women.

In a documentary sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, filmmaker Lygia Barbosa tells the compelling story of the haenyeo, the women divers of Jeju Island in South Korea, showcasing their lives through award-winning cinematography.^[58] To outsiders, the haenyeo embody a unique intersection of feminism and independence, challenging traditional gender roles through their work, community, and the values they embody. Photography and one-on-one conversations reveal actual perspectives of the diving women. Although many outside sociologists and journalistic writers have put forth the narrative that Jeju Island’s haenyeo are symbols of female empowerment, a woman in the documentary repeats a common phrase from the island: “In Jeju, it’s better to be born a cow than a woman.” This phrase offers a glimpse into the difficulties that come with being a female freediver. Kimi Werner, a professional freediver and ocean conservation advocate, took a trip to Jeju in Island “to meet her heroes, the haenyeo.”^[59] Seven months pregnant during this trip, Werner was “apprehensive of the effect motherhood would have on her career as a professional freediver. One of the divers in Werner’s interviews explained that “all the haenyeo would work up to their due date, around ten months.” “The hardest part was bending over your belly to put your fins on!” she exclaimed.^[60] Werner views her visit to Jeju Island as a narrative of redemption, as she arrived in a state of distress about her pregnancy and left inspired by the haenyeo’s resilience and paradigm of motherhood.

VI. Divers as Stewards of Cultural Heritage and the Environment

21st-century news articles and documentaries have increasingly presented ama and haenyeo divers as active agents in preserving their culture and heritage. In a Kyodo News article, reporter Yuka Nakao interviewed Aiko Ono, a woman who left Tokyo to begin ama diving in 2015. Ono states, “I’m determined to inherit the ama culture and I think it’s also my responsibility to do so…I’ve been doing it for 40 years. If I remain healthy, I want to do it for another 20 years. Haenyeo get sick on land. Sometimes my legs hurt and my whole body is on fire. But when I go into the sea, nothing hurts.”^[61] In the video, Yoon-Sooknyeo, another experienced haenyeo, stated, “In our generation, women like us couldn’t go to school. Being a haenyeo was our only way to make money. At that time, I was so embarrassed to be a haenyeo. People thought you only became a haenyeo because you had no ability. But now we are listed as a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) heritage. Now we are like a treasure.”^[62] A consequence of “Unescoization,” a term coined by anthropologist David Berliner, is the “development of intense tourism, which can lead to traditions being staged or inaccurately represented.”^[63] These first-hand accounts show the ways in which the divers’ self-perceptions are closely connected with outsiders’ views.

The growing popularity of Jeju Island as a tourist destination not only highlights the importance of the haenyeo divers but also intensifies the challenges they face in maintaining the diving tradition. In 2019, the route connecting Seoul and Jeju became one of the busiest domestic flight paths in the world, underscoring the island’s booming tourism industry. This surge in visitors, while economically beneficial, has contributed to mounting pressures on the island’s environment. Despite Jeju Island offering myriad attractions beyond its famed haenyeo divers, one must ponder the long-term impact of such extensive tourism on the island’s culture and natural surroundings. A 2023 PBS report interprets this steep decline in haenyeo divers as an urgent call for climate change awareness and its impact on fishing communities:

Too often, the worst effects of climate change are experienced by those who contribute the least. Few people feel this more deeply than the Haenyeo women of Jeju Island, off South Korea. This community of women has been diving for generations. They’re witnessing firsthand how the climate crisis is destroying the ecosystem they depend on, putting everything they know and love at significant risk. Hari Sreenivasan traveled to the island to speak with these remarkable women.^[64]

The surge in tourism has already precipitated issues like traffic congestion, beach and park littering, and water scarcity. At its peak, the industry boasted 23,000 women; today, a mere 4,500 remain, with only 2,500 engaged full-time. This narrative reveals that the influx of tourists not only exacerbates environmental degradation but also threatens the very livelihoods and traditions of the haenyeo community. As climate change intensifies, the delicate balance upon which these women depend becomes increasingly precarious. Thus, the documentary emphasizes the intertwined nature of environmental stewardship and cultural heritage preservation in navigating the future of Jeju Island.

In another example, PBS’s documentary “Korea’s Sea-Diving Women Fight for Survival Against Climate Change” highlights the devastating impact of climate change on the marine ecosystem of Jeju Island. The divers express concern over the declining populations of sea snails and disappearing seaweed species, which are vital components of their livelihood. According to one of the divers, “These days, because of climate change, the number of sea snails has drastically reduced. Too many species have disappeared even in the 40 years I have been doing this. Five or six different kinds of seaweed have disappeared. If we continue down this path, the sea will become more and more damaged. There will be no way for haenyeo to live.”^[65] Their observation of ecological degradation underscores the urgency of addressing climate change to ensure the sustainability of their way of life. Another interviewee states, “Without the haenyeo, Jeju Island would not have been able to develop as much as this. No matter how difficult it is, we try hard to earn money to teach our children.”^[66] Through this lens, the haenyeo women are not only environmental stewards but also key contributors to the socio-economic fabric of Jeju Island. Their narratives illustrate the interconnectedness of ecological sustainability, cultural heritage, and economic stability, emphasizing the need for holistic approaches to address the challenges they confront.

Overtourism has also impacted the pearl industry, much like it has affected the haenyeo divers of Jeju Island. Mikimoto Pearl Island, formerly Ojima, is nestled in Ise Bay off the Ise-Shima peninsula, Mie prefecture. By the late 19th century, it became the birthplace of pearl cultivation, thanks to pioneer Kokichi Mikimoto. Today, the island celebrates Mikimoto’s achievements with museums, pearl shops, ama demonstrations, and other forms of cultural tourism.^[67] In the early 20th century, Mikimoto revolutionized pearl cultivation in Japan by breeding oysters and inducing them to produce pearls, a process recognized under Japan’s imperial industrial and fisheries law. However, Mikimoto’s claims sparked legal and extralegal conflicts with local fishers, revealing the social and ecological tensions inherent in his attempts to monopolize pearl production and control access to marine resources.^[68] The island now functions as a major tourist hub — a product to be consumed by a global audience, and the everyday life of the local population becomes focused on delivering an “authentic experience” to visitors. This commercialization of Mikimoto Pearl Island reveals the entanglements between preserving traditional livelihoods, sustaining local ecosystems, and managing the demands of an ever-expanding tourism industry.

What do policymakers and local communities think about the negative impacts of tourism and climate change on traditional maritime industries? The response can be seen in the perspectives shared by both haenyeo divers in Jeju Island and ama divers in Japan, highlighting the urgent need for cultural preservation and environmental stewardship in the face of growing ecological and economic challenges. In a 2023 PBS news segment about the effects of climate change on coastal communities, a reporter posited the question, “What does being a haenyeo diver mean to you?” Jeong Sun-nyo, an employee of Gangeong Mission Center on Jeju Island, replied, “It means saving your family. It means giving up your life and your last breath for your family.” After describing the communal nature of the haenyeo’s work, she states that “A big part of this collaborative culture is to protect the environment.”^[69] Likewise, Japanese policymakers speak of ama divers as individuals who offer a critical window into the past, as examples of cultural purity and environmental stewardship. They explain how in recent years, total fish catches in Japan “have fallen due to combined factors of climate change, fewer fishers, and overfishing, according to Takahiro Matsui, associate professor of marine policy and culture at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology. In Mie Prefecture, the catch of abalone decreased to about 45 tons in 2015 from its peak of over 750 tons in 1966.”^[70] Recent reports and interviews about the divers focus on the detrimental effects of climate change on their fishing practices; however, they also allude to narratives of resilience and a movement for cultural preservation.

Another young ama in Ijika, 32-year-old Rikako Sato, utilizes her English skills to introduce local ama culture to both domestic and tourists. Sato seeks to show the “ins and outs” and the “fun parts and hard parts of the ama life.” Committed to education and advocacy, she wants “people to know how spectacular ama are…Perhaps an elementary school student who saw ama will want to become one and join us in the future.”^[71] On Jeju Island, the community similarly is trying to preserve haenyeo practices. In 2016, UNESCO included haenyeo on their Representative List of the Intangible Culture Heritage of Humanity, which thrust them into the spotlight on both domestic and international stages. Today, haenyeo “play an important role in Jeju tourism, and dozens of restaurants on the island claim a haenyeo affiliation to attract tourists.”^[72] Across the sea, Japanese communities are fighting an uphill battle to keep ama diving traditions alive. Quaglia reported, “In 2015, Toba City launched a one-off campaign to recruit ama diver apprentices and help them relocate from other Japanese cities into ama communities. Only two women signed up, and one eventually left.”^[73] A contingent of divers is optimistic about the potential of tourism to provide vital support. The Toba Sea-Folk Museum is actively advocating for ama diving to be acknowledged as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. Divers now take steps to enhance the experience for visitors by opening their huts and offering “ama encounters.” Nevertheless, uncertainty still looms over what lies ahead.

VII. Conclusion

This paper has shown how the haenyeo and ama, emblematic figures of cultural and socio-political significance, became subject to selective narration that often aligns with prevailing ideologies, thereby overshadowing the diversity of their individual experiences. Despite their unique perspectives, the haenyeo are often portrayed through lenses of nationalism, feminism, and environmentalism, shaping perceptions that may not fully capture their self-identified roles. To dissect outside perspectives about the haenyeo, this paper outlined physiological studies and 19th-century descriptive accounts of the divers, setting the stage for an exploration of how their images have intertwined with nationalism, feminism, tourism, and environmentalism. This examination exposed inherent biases in documenting and interpreting the legacy of these remarkable women, with the primary goal of returning narrative agency to the women themselves.

Figure 3. Singing the Jeju folk song, “Ieodo Sana,” often sung when haenyeo went out to the sea.^[74]

Figure 4. Making art with the haenyeo at a public library in Jeju^[75]

Figure 5. A haenyeo explaining one of their diving tools.^[76]

This paper also compares the varying cultural perceptions of the haenyeo divers of Jeju Island and the ama divers of the Japanese coastline –– two groups that appear to be nearly identical in their dress, equipment, and breath-holding diving techniques. Utilizing a combination of historical studies and firsthand interviews with the divers themselves, I have illustrated how similar professions are depicted as different forms of labor — both in terms of respectability and economic impact — depending on their cultural contexts.

While I visited Jeju Island for a brief two nights, a friend of mine had an eight-week internship on the island last summer. She generously provided photos from her direct interactions with the haenyeo divers. In these images, the women sing old haenyeo songs, create sea-related art, and explain the purpose behind different tools to members of their community. In Figure 11, for example, one of the ajumeonis (older women) offers a lesson on how to pry mollusks off of the rocks. Independent of feminism, environmentalism, and tourism, the women did not cater to the outsider’s gaze; rather, they sought out a local audience. Through fostering community-based education, the women tell their stories on their own terms — passing on their knowledge and motivations to their network of Jeju Island natives.

The onlooker, in their work, whether a monograph or popular account, likely presents a viewpoint shaped by their agenda, be it tourism, climate change awareness, female empowerment, social welfare, or other concerns. Therefore, a fairer assessment of divers like the haenyeo and the ama is consequential, especially considering their purported cultural and economic significance. While it is valuable to study contemporary movements, there remains a need to explore these divers’ experiences on their own terms, free from external agendas or filtered mediation. Research on the divers transitioned from early anthropological and explanatory approaches to ones driven by specific aims such as nationalism, environmentalism, and feminism, highlighting the need for a balanced understanding of their traditions and livelihoods in the 21st century.

To what degree can this paper extrapolate who the divers truly were and are? Even interviews with them are subject to bias, shaped by the questions asked and the quotes selected. Therefore, focusing on their actions rather than interpretations is crucial. Many argue for the urgency of studying these divers before their knowledge and traditions vanish, further demonstrating the necessity for increased research efforts. Understanding the haenyeo and ama on their own terms is paramount –– which may prompt further reflection on what is currently known and the gaps that exist. These blind spots reveal the importance of prioritizing primary research to gain a more authentic and comprehensive understanding of these communities and their practices. How do the divers themselves wish to be portrayed? What do they want their legacy to be? A face-to-face conversation reveals how each diver has her own story to tell, a story independent of scholarly motives and contemporary movements: “I want to be remembered as ‘Haenyeo Lee Yu-Jung.’”^[77]

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15. Lee Seohyeon and Myong Soon-ok. “Portraits of Jeju Haenyeo as Models of Empowerment in the Korean Newspaper Maeilshinbo during Japanese Occupation.” Comparative Literature and Culture 20. no. 2 (2018): 1-11.
16. Lim, Cristina et al. “Braving the sea: The Amasan (women divers) of the Yahataura fishing community, Iki Island, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan.” Asian Fisheries Science Special Issue 25 (2012): 29-45.
17. Martinez, Dolores P. Identity and Ritual in a Japanese Diving Village: the Making and Becoming of Person and Place. Honolulu, University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2004.
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19. Nakao Yuka. “Young female divers help keep tradition alive.” The Japan Times, January 20, 2020.
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Acknowledgments by the author      

I would like to thank Professor Thomas Conlan for his guidance and support throughout the research process, particularly for providing useful premodern resources and advice for my meta-analysis of scholarship on the haenyeo and ama divers. I would also like to thank Lena Hoplamazian and Savannah Charlish for reading over my paper. Finally, I would like to extend immense gratitude to my mom and aunt for taking me to Jeju Island over the summer, teaching female empowerment through example, and inspiring me to dive into this research project.

Acknowledgments by the editor

The editor would like to thank Luciano Candisani for allowing the journal to publish his photograph for his article. His work can be found on his website or his Instagram.

Footnotes

^[1] Bert Archer, “The Island of Korean Wonder Women,” GLP Worldwide.

^[2] Luciano Candisani, “Women of the Sea: Diving with the Haenyeo of Jeju,” photograph, lucianocandisani.com.

^[3] Candisani.

^[4] Sarah Fuchs, “Haenyeo – The Sea Women of South Korea,” Kyoto Journal, August 3, 2022.

^[5] “Dive into Toba Travel Guide,” Dive into Toba: Travel Guide, accessed March 20, 2024.

^[6] “Dive into Toba Travel Guide.”

^[7] Sofia Quaglia, “The Plight of Japan’s Ama Divers,” Nautilus, March 15, 2024.

^[8] Basil Hall Chamberlain, Things Japanese; Being Notes on Various Subjects Connected with Japan for the Use of Travellers and Others (London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd., 1891) 104.

^[9] Donald W. Rennie, “Thermal Insulation of Korean Diving Women and Non-Divers in Water,” in Physiology of Breath-Hold Diving and the Ama of Japan, ed. National Research Council et al. (Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 1965), 322.

^[10] Fuchs, “Haenyeo – The Sea Women of South Korea.”

^[11] Tanaka Hirofumi et al., “Arterial stiffness of lifelong Japanese female pearl divers,” American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 310, no. 10 (2016): 975.

^[12] Tanaka et al., 978.

^[13] Ko Changhoon, “A New Look at Korean Gender Roles: Jeju (Cheju) Women Divers as a World Cultural Heritage,” Asian Women 23, no. 1 (2007): 31.

^[14] Chamberlain, Things Japanese, 451.

^[15] Chamberlain, 463.

^[16] Aideen Foley et al., “Understanding ‘Islandness.” Annals of the American Association of Geographers 113, no. 8 (2023): 1800–17.

^[17] Poh-Sze Choo, “Women in sea cucumber fisheries and aquaculture — Can we make their participation equal and fair?,” in The World of Sea Cucumbers: Challenges, Advances, and Innovations, eds. Annie Mercier et al. (Cambridge: Academic Press, 2023), 114.

^[18] Lee Seohyeon and Myong Soon-ok, “Portraits of Jeju Haenyeo as Models of Empowerment in the Korean Newspaper Maeilshinbo during Japanese Occupation,” Comparative Literature and Culture 20. no. 2 (2018): 2.

^[19] Maeilshinbo, June 19, 1913, quoted in Seohyeon and Soon-ok, “Portraits of Jeju Haenyeo as Models of Empowerment in the Korean Newspaper Maeilshinbo during Japanese Occupation,” 9.

^[20] Janet Hunter, Japanese Women Working (London; New York: Routledge, 1993), 9.

^[21] Joy Hendry, Understanding Japanese Society, pp. 37-38.

^[22] Hunter, Japanese Women Working, 8.

^[23] Dolores P. Martinez, Identity and Ritual in a Japanese Diving Village: the Making and Becoming of Person and Place (Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2004).

^[24] Hunter.

^[25] Cristina Lim et al.,“Braving the sea: The amasan (women divers) of the Yahataura fishing community, Iki Island, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan,” Asian Fisheries Science Special Issue 25 (2012), 31.

^[26] Lim et al., “Braving the sea,” 31.

^[27] Choo, “Women in sea cucumber fisheries and aquaculture,” 114.

^[28] Martinez, Identity and Ritual in a Japanese Diving Village, 30.

^[29] Martinez, 31.

^[30] Martinez.

^[31] Edward Norbeck, Takashima: A Japanese Fishing Community (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1954), 102.

^[32] Martinez, Identity and Ritual in a Japanese Diving Village, 31.

^[33] Hunter, Japanese Women Working, 9.

^[34] Hunter.

^[35] Choo, “Women in sea cucumber fisheries and aquaculture,” 115.

^[36] Norbeck, Takashima, 105.

^[37] Norbeck, 189.

^[38] Norbeck.

^[39] Dorinne K. Kondo, Discourses of Identity in a Japanese Workplace (1989) in Hunter, Japanese Women Working, 90.

^[40] Y. Zin, Haenyeo: Women Divers of Korea (Carlsbad, CA; Seoul: Hollym, 2017), 93.

^[41] UW360, “Photographer of the Week: Y. Zin Kim,” Underwater 360: Diver’s Digest, April 8, 2016.

^[42] “Photographer of the Week: Y. Zin Kim.”

^[43] “Meet The ‘Ama,’ Japan’s Legendary Female Pearl Divers.” Something Curated, February 24, 2021.

^[44] Martinez, Identity and Ritual in a Japanese Diving Village, 37.

^[45] There was also a film based on this Ian Fleming James Bond novel.

^[46] Ian Fleming, James Bond (Original Series) #12: You Only Live Twice (New York: Penguin, 2008), cover.

^[47] Steve Rebuck, Tim Thomas, and Christopher Rebuck, Abalone Diving on the California Coast (Mount Pleasant: Arcadia Publishing, 2023), 18-19.

^[48] Rebuck et al., Abalone Diving on the California Coast.

^[49] Dolores P. Martinez,“Television and the Ama: The Continuing Search for a Real Japan in NHK’s Morning Drama Amachan,” East Asian Journal of Popular Culture 5, no. 2. (August 2019): 150.

^[50] “Haenyeo, Women Divers of Korea.” KBS World News, December 10, 2014.

^[51] Moran (1983) in Janet Hunter, Japanese Women Working, 190.

^[52] Hermann Rabn and Suk Ki Hong, “The Diving Women of Korea and Japan,” Science America, May 1967.

^[53] SK Hong, Rahn H, “The Diving Women of Korea and Japan.”

^[54] Lim et. al. 2012 in The World of Sea Cucumbers: Challenges, Advances, and Innovations, 115.

^[55] ABC News (Australia), “Follow Korea’s oldest free divers on their underwater treasure hunt,” YouTube, November 21, 2021, 9:40-10:33.

^[56] Choo, “Women in sea cucumber fisheries and aquaculture,” 113.

^[57] Cataneo (2017) in The World of Sea Cucumbers, 114.

^[58] Haenyeo Wisdom of the Sea, directed by Lygia Barbosa (São Paulo, Brazil: Studio Alarcón Mantegari, NatGeo Channel, 2022).

^[59] ABC News (Australia), “Follow Korea’s oldest free divers on their underwater treasure hunt,” 4:50.

^[60] ABC News (Australia), 4:57.

^[61] ABC News (Australia), 0:10.

^[62] ABC News (Australia), 1:05.

^[63] Fuchs, “Haenyeo – The Sea Women of South Korea.”

^[64] PBS, “Korea’s Sea-Diving Women Fight for Survival Against Climate Change,” PBS.org, July 31, 2023.

^[65] ABC News (Australia), “Follow Korea’s oldest free divers on their underwater treasure hunt,” 5:04.

^[66] ABC News (Australia), 6:55.

^[67] “Mikimoto Pearl Island: The Birthplace of Cultured Pearl,” Kanpai-Japan.

^[68] Kjell Ericson, “Nature’s Helper: Mikimoto Kōkichi and the Place of Cultivation in the Twentieth Century’s Pearl Empires,” PhD diss., (Princeton University, 2015), 15.

^[69] Amanpour and Company, “Korea’s Sea Diving Women Fight for Survival Against Climate Change,” PBS, Youtube, August 1, 2023, 4:18

^[70] Nakao Yuka, “Young female divers help keep tradition alive,” The Japan Times, January 20, 2020.

^[71] Nakao, “Young female divers help keep tradition alive,”

^[72] Hahna Yoon, “Saving the Songs of South Korea’s Female Divers,” Atlas Obsurca, January 14, 2021.

^[73] Quaglia, “The Plight of Japan’s Ama Divers.”

^[74] Image courtesy of Monica Jun, Jeju Island, 2023.

^[75] Image courtesy of Monica Jun, Jeju Island, 2023.

^[76] Image courtesy of Monica Jun, Jeju Island, 2023.

^[77] ABC News (Australia), “Follow Korea’s oldest free divers on their underwater treasure hunt,” 11:01.