Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Saudi Arabia has been conducting its world-first deep-sea exploration in the Red Sea in conjunction with a Japanese documentary team. Many species in one of the most transparent sea were documented in the program that was broadcast on NHK, Japan’s public service media / public broadcaster.

The destination of the Saudi-sponsored expedition is the mysterious underwater lake known as the Brine Pool, which has a salinity up to eight times greater than the seas around it. This area is believed to resemble the primordial seas and possibly holds keys to understanding the origins of life.

Documentary leader IWASAKI Hiromichi, who has previously focused on areas such as Antarctica and the Mariana Trench, commented: “The Red Sea is an unknown sea and that is why researchers around the globe are paying so much attention to it. Among NHK’s special documentaries this year, it seems we have gained the second biggest audience.”

The broadcast was delayed for two years by the pandemic, but Iwasaki says the great cooperation and help his team received from the Saudi government contributed in finishing the documentary.

“I would like to say thank you to the National Center for Wildlife of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia because we wouldn’t have been able to research or make the film without their help, so I want to thank them first and foremost. It seems that we were able to take part in their research thanks to our past programs about the deep sea, so we were very happy about that.”

He added that he was impressed by what he saw in the country: “I went to Jeddah a couple of times and of course it is so impressive. I know it is a World Heritage Site and an important hub to go to Mecca, so I was deeply impressed by it.”

He was also impressed by the food and praised the chicken dishes he found in Saudi Arabia.