A ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the official recognition of Niigata Minamata disease, a neurological disorder caused by polluted industrial wastewater containing methylmercury, took place in the city of Niigata, the capital of the namesake prefecture in central Japan. It was the first time in 10 years for an environment minister to attend the ceremony.
Hundreds of people prayed for the victims of Minamata disease in a ceremony in southwestern Japan on Thursday, 69 years after the neurological disorder caused by polluted industrial wastewater was officially recognized.
Some 660 people, including patients, bereaved families, Environment Minister Keiichiro Asao and Keizo Yamada, president of Chisso Corp., which released the wastewater, attended the ceremony in Minamata, a city in Kumamoto Prefecture.
A close-up of a Japanese fisherman’s contorted hand grimly reminds us of Minamata disease’s human toll, officially recognized in 1956, though it took over a decade for the government to link it to industrial pollution. A project, known as “Minamata: The Eyes of Photographers,” features over 200,000 photos, including original prints, which have been collected for digitization, storage and archival purposes, along with other materials such as the photographers’ interview notes. On Sept. 3, members of the organization visited the environment ministry to submit a request to create a government framework for the preservation and utilization of the photos.
Japanese Environment Minister Shintaro Ito on Monday met again with Minamata disease sufferers after the microphone was abruptly switched off at a previous meeting while such people were speaking.
“I apologize again. We will give assistance to the fullest extent possible,” Ito said at Monday’s meeting in Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, with six groups of sufferers of the neurological disorder caused by polluted industrial wastewater.
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.
A ceremony to mark the 68th anniversary of the official recognition of Minamata disease, a neurological disorder caused by polluted industrial wastewater, was held on Wednesday in Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan. “Many people are still suffering from symptoms without relief,” Toshio Kawabata, 73, said in a speech. He became eligible for support provided under the special law for the Minamata disease relief program that was enacted in 2009.
A Japanese district court Thursday ordered Resonac Holdings Corp. to pay 104 million yen in damages to people claiming to suffer from Niigata Minamata disease, a neurological disorder caused by mercury poisoning.
The judge rejected the claim against the government while ordering Resonac to pay 4 million yen to each of the 26 plaintiffs identified as disease victims. His ruling was read out by another judge Yusuke Suzuki.
“Knowledge about the issue of leprosy has not sufficiently spread in society,” the ministry said in a report summing up the survey. “Prejudice and discrimination (against former patients and their families) still exist, so the situation is serious.”
The Osaka District Court on Wednesday recognized 128 plaintiffs rejected from a special Minamata disease relief program as sufferers of the disease, or mercury poisoning caused by polluted industrial wastewater.
Barrier Free Japan