The streets were still wet with the previous days rain. In a single line, our group slowly emerged from our hotel to take the one-hour Shinkansen train ride to from Fukuoka to Minamata. The train station was much smaller than previous ones. Unlike many other regions of Japan, this area did not have a system of public transportation. Our group instead travelled for 15 minutes, by a few taxi cars and a van to the Minamata Disease Museum. While I rode and looked in the taxis it was easy to notice the massive trees and forest that surrounded the roads. The area took me back to a slower, simpler, and more peaceful pace of life.
When we arrived at the museum, we were greeted kindly, “Ohayōgozaimasu.” As a looked at the surrounding entrance there was a large map of Minamata city hanging on the wall. It gave a scaled perspective on how grand in size the city is. It immediately made me ponder how they were able to restore the area from cadmium infiltrated to livable conditions of the modern day.
After we were all settled into the main lobby, the museum staff ushered us into a theatre. They played a video on Minamata disease to give us a quick refresher on the facts. Minamata disease is a neurological disorder caused by severe mercury poisoning. The disease was first discovered in Minamata city, Kumamoto prefecture, Japan in 1956. It was caused by the release of the industrial byproduct methylmercury by the Chisso Corporation in the Minamata Bay. The highly toxic chemical then bioaccumulated in shellfish and fish commonly consumed by the cats, dogs, pigs, and most importantly humans living in the region. Thousands of individuals were affected by this disease and all individuals living in the region still deal with the emotional, physical, and mental aftermath of this pollution disease today.
After hearing this refresher on the facts, we were ushered into a conference room and introduced to our storyteller Mrs. Eiko Ueno. She greeted us kindly before beginning to daunting task for explaining an unimaginable lost. Mrs. Ueno, a woman is now in her 90s, daughter and husband were both victims of Minamata disease. Her husband was a hardworking fisherman, who was very successful at his job. He provided well for his family and always had a happy demeaner. One day all of this changed. Her husband’s health quickly declined with him not being able to hold his utensils, grip his fishing line, and stand. She began to bring him to the local hospitals when his conditioned declined to the point where he could not even make it to the toilet without her assistance. After several trips to the hospital, and doctors telling her there was nothing she could do all but watch her husband suffer in agony and pain. As she weaved the events of her husband’s ultimately sub coming to the disease, I saw her heartbreak as if it happened yesterday. Her voiced cracked as she explained how her husband passed away days before the birth of her daughter, dashing away her dream family. Yet, her pain did not stop there as she quickly learned that her daughter also had the disease as well. When her daughter was three months old her sister noticed that she was not functioning as other babies were. When Mrs. Ueno’s sister called her daughter’s name, Rykko, she would look in the opposite direction and smile. Mrs. Ueno knew she needed to act fast to keep her daughter alive, visiting many hospitals, even ones run by the Chisso Company, yet all doctors told her the same, there was nothing she could do. Once again, she was lost without help, and struggling to keep her loved one alive. She began to act against the Chisso factory with other members of Minamata city. She and her daughter went to many sit-ins, before her daughters untimely passing. As she spoke about the paining of living in a dark one-bedroom apartment, and her anger towards not being able to give her daughter a better life tears dropped from her eyes.
From her speech I gained a first-hand account on the discrimination, fear, and pain caused by a corporation’s greed. If only the Chisso factory would have taken responsibility earlier a family would be whole, the over 10,000 victims effected would have their healthy, we would not need to take these individuals pain as a lesson.
Yet as we traveled out of Minamata and I had time to reflect on our train ride back I will take the heart wrenching story as a reminder. A reminder to continue to remember the environmental effects of the production of my everyday products. A reminder that every action has a consequence. The chemicals we produce daily can have a grave effect on the daily lives of those living in surrounding communities. As well it is a reminder that no amount of money could ever replace the lost of love ones, health, and prosperity in life. Many of those from Minamata still face discrimination today due to the fact the misinformation was spread about the disease being an infection one.
Thank you, Mrs. Eiko Ueno, your courage to tell your story as reminder and lesson for future generations. While I took in the breath-taking scenery, I could not help to think about the lives lost for short-term monetary gain, yet the ability for a community the rebuild and redefine themselves in the present-day.