The story of Life MINAMATA

Title: The story of Life MINAMATA

Photographer(s): Shisei Kuwabara

Writer(s): Yoshio Kubota, Kiichiro Shiraki

Designer(s):

Publisher(s): Kunpur, Tokyo, Japan

Year: 2022

Print run:

Language(s): Japanese, English

Pages: 200

Size: 18,5 x 25,5 cm

Binding: Softcover

Edition:

Print: Innunic Co., Tokyo, Japan

Nation(s) and year(s) of Protest: Japan, 1960-2022

ISBN: 978-4-87551-054-3

Minamata disease was first discovered in the city of  Minamata in Japan , in 1956, hence its name. It was caused by the release of methylmercury in the industrial wastewater from a chemical factory owned by the  Chisso Corporation, which continued from 1932 to 1968.

This highly toxic chemical bioaccumulated and biomagnified in shellfish and fish in Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea, which, when eaten by the local population, resulted in mercury poisoning. The poisoning and resulting deaths of both humans and animals continued for 36 years, while Chisso and the Kumamoto prefectural government did little to prevent the epidemic. The animal effects were severe enough in cats that they came to be named as having "dancing cat fever".

For sixty years Japanese photographer Shisei Kuwabara has been documenting the city of Minamata and those who suffer from the disease that bears its name, the results of this long project came together in this book.