Journals detailing the activities of the now-disbanded labor union of Chisso Corp., responsible for the outbreak of the mercury-poisoning disease in Kyushu in the 1950s, have been reprinted to throw fresh light on how its members struggled to support victims of the pollution and confronted their employer over the tragedy.
The disease became known as Minamata disease after the city in Kumamoto Prefecture where it was first identified in 1956.
People were affected after eating mercury-contaminated marine products caught in the Shiranui Sea, adjacent to Minamata and other cities in Kumamoto Prefecture. A similar disease was detected some years later in Niigata Prefecture.