It might sound surreal but Japan’s Tateyama Bay has a beautiful story to tell about the friendship between a local diver and a fish for nearly 30 years. A scuba diver Hiroyuki Arakawa first met Yoriko, an Asian sheepshead wrasse when he was supervising the construction of an underwater Shinto temple gate 56 feet beneath the surface of the bay, according to GoodNewsNetwork.
He started diving when he was 18 years old. “Being in the water, you can be so isolated. It’s your own world. I like being in the deep waters,” Arakawa told Great Big Story. He turned 79 in 2021 and he still loved to dive in the deep water. And his friendship with Yoriko is one of the highlights of his dive.
He said in the interview, “I’d say we understand each other. Not that we talk to each other. I kissed her once. I’m the only person she’ll let do it. If you look closely, from the front, they look like they have a human face. When you look really close, you’ll think it looks like someone you know.” During one such dive, he found out that Yoriko’s mouth had been badly injured but still she came to meet him.
So, realizing that she might be unable to catch her own food, Arakawa spent the next 10 days hand-feeding Yoriko, meat from crabs that he hammered open for her near the temple gate. “I think anyone can get an animal’s attention by feeding them. But to touch or interact with them is harder to accomplish,” he said.
Yoriko quickly recovered from her injuries and then their bond became even stronger. “I’m not sure if it’s the nature of the kobudai or not. It’s probably because there is a sense of trust between us. I guess she knows that I saved her that I helped when she was badly injured. So for me to be able to do that, I am proud,” Arakawa said. “I have an amazing sense of accomplishment in my heart.”
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— Tinus Nel (@tytantinus) May 27, 2023
Hiroyuki Arakawa, 79, says he's been friends with the same odd-looking Asian sheepshead wrasse named Yoriko for the past 25 years. He originally found her on the brink of death and took it upon himself to feed her five crabs a day pic.twitter.com/XvaHEk748b
…remarkable…