Staff writer
OSAKA -- In the summer of 1954, doctors at a hospital in Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, admitted a patient who had a strange illness. The man had trouble walking and shook violently. After a month of convulsions, he died.
Medical experts were stumped, but some began to suspect that the man had been poisoned. Two years later, as more and more Minamata residents were admitted to area hospitals with similar symptoms, the medical science community realized they were facing a disaster. The cause was eventually traced to Chisso Corp., which was dumping untreated mercury and other chemicals into Minamata Bay.