Diving for Yuko

Loading player...
In coastal Japan, Yasuo Takamatsu has spent nearly 15 years diving for the remains of his wife, Yuko, who was swept away in the 2011 tsunami. With on-location recording of Yasuo on his 763rd dive, this Heart and Soul documentary explores his search as an act of devotion shaped by Japanese ideals of grief, memory, and the power of nature. A profound story of love and loss, we reveal how one man’s repeated dives became a ritual of remembrance in a land where disaster is part of life.

Presenter: Jake Warren
Producer:: Leo Danczak
Editor:: Macalister Bexon
A Message Heard production for BBC World Service
9 Jul 8PM English United Kingdom Education

Other recent episodes

The Kenyans taking on multinational chemical companies

In Kenya, a young lawyer is bringing a legal case against the Kenyan government, regulator, and several multinational agrochemical companies. He’s working alongside activists and health practitioners, and they claim that hazardous pesticides and herbicides, designed to make farming for efficient, are damaging the health of farmers in Kenya. They…
27 Jul 8PM 29 min

James Turrell: Master Of Light

The American artist James Turrell is famous for his Skyspaces. A Skyspace is chamber with an opening to the sky. Turrell bathes the roof with light that subtly changes colour, which affects our perception of the colour of the sky itself. Julian May travels to ARoS, the Art Museum in…
26 Jul 8PM 28 min

Driving across the divide

Cars driven by Israeli volunteers wait at check points to give lifts to sick Palestinians to their hospital appointments - what the volunteers call “one hour of peace”. Since Hamas’s attacks on 7 October, it has become an increasingly rare space for Israelis and Palestinians to speak and build trust…
25 Jul 8PM 51 min

Saving Nigeria's vultures

When it comes to conservation, adorable and majestic animals often attract the most concern for their plight. It's not so easy to get the public's attention when it comes to animals that are perceived as weird or creepy or downright unpleasant. The vulture, traditionally associated with death and carrion, falls…
25 Jul 8AM 29 min

The lifelong toll of surviving disaster

It has been a month since the twin earthquakes in Venezuela, estimated to have killed more than five thousand people. But there have also been some remarkable stories of rescue with people being pulled alive from the rubble many days after the disaster. In our conversations, we bring together people…
25 Jul 1AM 26 min