‘They’re just waiting for someone to speak with them’: meet the 73-year-old who has saved hundreds from Japan’s suicide cliffs

Almost no one jumps on rainy days. They jump when the sun returns and the masses step outside, reminding them of their misery. They jump during financial crises and in the early spring, when Japanese schools open and the pressures of life converge.
Yukio Shige’s routine, though, is the same regardless of the weather.
Nearly every day, he clambers across the high basalt columns of the Tojinbo cliffs, the Sea of Japan thrashing 80 feet below. He peers into binoculars, seeking hunched…