Japan tsunami wife search continues nearly 16 years after Yuko Takamatsu disappeared, with husband Yasuo returning underwater twice each month.
ONAGAWA: The Yasuo Takamatsu search has continued for more than 15 years, with the Japanese widower still entering the waters off Onagawa in Miyagi Prefecture looking for his wife Yuko, who disappeared during the devastating March 11, 2011 tsunami. Recent reporting says he continues to dive around twice a month.
Yuko worked at the Onagawa branch of 77 Bank. After the magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck, she and colleagues sought safety on the roof of the bank building, but the tsunami overwhelmed it. Historical reporting records that 13 employees had taken refuge there and only one survived.
Before she disappeared, Yuko sent her husband a message asking whether he was safe and saying she wanted to go home. Her mobile phone was recovered weeks later, and it contained another message that had not reached him, describing the severity of the tsunami.
Why Takamatsu learned to dive
Takamatsu searched for Yuko on land after the disaster before deciding that he needed to look beneath the sea.
He began learning scuba diving in 2013 with instructor Masayoshi Takahashi, who was already involved in underwater searches and clearing tsunami debris. What began as a new skill became a long-running personal mission.
The Yasuo Takamatsu search has now involved hundreds of dives. A BBC World Service documentary released in July 2026 accompanied him on his 763rd dive and described his repeated journeys underwater as an act of remembrance and devotion.
Recent coverage says Takamatsu continues going into the sea roughly twice each month. Despite years of searching, Yuko has not been found.
Thousands remain missing from the disaster
Takamatsu’s story is also part of the continuing human legacy of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
Japan’s National Police Agency recorded 15,901 deaths and 2,519 people still missing from the disaster as of the end of February 2026. Miyagi Prefecture, where Onagawa is located, accounted for 9,545 recorded deaths and 1,213 missing people.
More than 15 years after Yuko disappeared, the Yasuo Takamatsu search therefore continues against the backdrop of thousands of families whose loved ones were never recovered.
For Takamatsu, however, the enormous scale of the disaster remains centred on one person. He continues returning to the same waters, searching for his wife and carrying with him the memory of her final message about wanting to come home.
Impact to expect
Reflection. Takamatsu’s continuing dives show how the consequences of a natural disaster can remain intensely personal long after damaged towns and infrastructure have been rebuilt.
