Yasuo Takamatsu continues 15-year search for wife lost in tsunami

Yasuo Takamatsu has spent 15 years diving into the ocean in search of his wife, Yuko, who went missing during the devastating 2011 tsunami in Japan. Based out of Onagawa Port in Miyagi Prefecture, Takamatsu travels by small fishing boat to dive several kilometers offshore.

Equipped with a mask, oxygen tank, and weighted belt, he has completed 763 dives to date, averaging two dives per month. His search began after professional rescue divers were unable to locate Yuko or many other missing persons following the massive waves that struck the northeastern coast of Japan on March 11, 2011.

Takamatsu recalls that his last conversation with Yuko was a mundane discussion about dinner before he dropped her off at work. During the disaster, Yuko sought refuge on a building rooftop with colleagues and sent a final message to her husband asking if he was safe and expressing a desire to go home. Takamatsu has dedicated over a decade to these underwater searches, driven by the belief that he may one day find her.