Hiroyuki was appointed to supervise one of the religion’s shrines of Shinto called Tori High, located under the surface of Japan’s Tateyama Bay. During this period, he became acquainted with this amazing marine creature living around the shrine, which is rather unappealing by looks and could be termed as scary. But with time, they became good friends and videos of them playing together, Arakawa greeting the fish with a kiss, went viral on the internet.
An experimental study done by Dr. Cait Newport and his team of scientists from the University of Oxford confirmed that the fish could identify a human face, which is outstanding. Dr. Cait Newport said to CNN that “Two images of human faces were presented to a fish by scientists and the fish was trained to choose one by spitting their jet at the picture ”. The scientists also stated that even when they made the picture black and white, and the shapes of heads were contrasted out, the fish could identify the familiar human faces with an accuracy of 86%, which is mindblowing.
The long-term friendship between the Japanese driver and the fish runs back for two and a half decades, and within those 25 years, every time they meet, Hiroyuki greets Yoriko with a kiss. Just in case, from the first day they met, their bond kept growing stronger day by day. The story is a noteworthy example for all of us that despite the changes we see among people, the love we give is the love we get.