Minister Apologizes for Interrupting Minamata Disease Sufferers’ Speeches

From Jiji

May 8 2024

Minamata, Kumamoto Pref – Japanese Environment Minister Shintaro Ito on Wednesday apologized for ministry staff switching off the microphone for two speakers from groups of Minamata disease sufferers abruptly at a meeting earlier this month.

“I apologize from the bottom of my heart. I deeply regret it and I am very sorry,” Ito said at a meeting in Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, to the speakers and other members of groups of sufferers of the neurological disorder caused by polluted industrial wastewater.

Yoshihiro Yamashita, 83, whose speech was interrupted at the May 1 meeting with ministry officials, said that Ito “should’ve supervised and given instructions” at the site as he attended the meeting.

The interruptions “left a blemish on the history of the Environment Ministry” and were “unprecedented,” said Yuji Nakayama, 70, secretary-general of one of the sufferers’ groups.

Ito said that he could hear the remarks of the interrupted speakers. “I wasn’t sure if it was Environment Ministry staff that switched off” the microphone, he added.