Minamata

Day 4 of the field study

This morning began with a visit to the Minamata Disease Municipal Museum. This museum is built on a small hill overlooking what used to be a bay, but is now acres of land that was reclaimed. Unlike the land reclamation in Isahaya, this area was reclaimed for more tragic reasons, since it was contaminated with mercury runoff for decades from a factory owned by the Chisso company.

The museum features video, stories, maps, photographs, and other items related to Minamata disease, first recognized in the 1950s. Some of the videos are difficult to watch, including those of children with congenital Minamata disease and cats fed sludge full of mercury from Minamata Bay. Cats were the first to show signs of mercury poisoning, unable to walk straight, falling uncontrollably.

We heard a one-hour talk from a Minamata disease sufferer, then the students walked around the memorial space outside the museum.

Student interpreting for disease sufferer.

Students with the disease sufferer after the lecture.

Students at the Minamata Disease Memorial.

Then we went to lunch, a simple meal of chirashi zushi and soup. Afterwards, we walked to City Hall, where we heard a lecture from a public employee about the environmental efforts of Minamata. The most drastic measure has been that the city requires its residents to separate its garbage into 24 different types: cans (steel and aluminum), glass (four different colors), burnable, paper (cardboard, newspaper, catalogs, office paper), etc. It really is a remarkable system. The city claims that the residents accept this system without complaint. In fact, our speaker said that the monthly separation day offers neighbors an opportunity to communicate with each other.

Lecture at Minamata City Hall.

The students seemed interested in all of the amazing efforts by the city to create a new environmental image in the wake of disaster. They listened intently and asked questions.

Power supply for Kumamoto Prefectural vehicles is just in front of the main entrance at City Hall.

An eco-friendly car parked at City Hall.

Monitoring equipment noting the current power generated (top) by the solar panels on the City Hall roof, along with the total power generated so far that day (bottom).

Once the presentation finished, we walked to a local NPO that arranges farmstays and other activities mostly for student groups who visit Minamata and the neighboring town of Izumi, in Kagoshima Prefecture. There we heard from the leader of a group that supports Minamata disease sufferers.

Minamata River

After this long and tiring day, the students returned for a second night at their homestays. I was relieved to have some free time again, and I enjoyed a terrific meal at an izakaya. It beat the meal at Mos Burger from the previous night, when I was too tired to walk very far. I did enjoy going to Mos Burger, though, since its efforts also tie into the environmental theme. Each restaurant has a chalkboard or some other way of indicating where some of its fresh vegetables come from. For instance, according to the board below, both the lettuce and tomatoes I ate were grown in Yatsushiro City, Kumamoto Prefecture. I think this is a fascinating change to fastfood, taking food origins seriously.

Sashimi, which was one of almost ten dishes in my dinner set.

"Today's Vegetables" at MosBurger.