61 years after recognition of Minamata disease, Kumamoto patient pays tribute

MINAMATA, Kumamoto -- A sufferer of Minamata disease, a type of industrial mercury poisoning, thanked local residents for their support on May 1, in a ceremony paying tribute to victims of the disease since it was officially recognized 61 years ago.

Masafumi Takishita, 60, a resident of the city, suffered mercury poisoning in the womb. In a message at the ceremony as a representative of patients and bereaved family members, he expressed hope for the future.

"It is my hope that by living our lives to the fullest, we may be able to provide emotional support to someone who is living with an eye on the future," he said.

Takishita was the main organizer of a concert featuring enka singer Sayuri Ishikawa that was arranged in February by people including Minamata patients who were affected in the womb. He expressed the feeling that living life positively was a way of returning a favor to residents who had supported the concert.

Takishita was born into a boatbuilding family in an area where many Minamata disease patients lived, about two months after the disease was officially recognized on May 1, 1956. He suffered symptoms such as being unable to walk steadily, and from the earliest time he can remember, he spent his days in hospital. His health problems remain today.

"Being healthy is something I don't know," he said. He disclosed that he had sometimes been teased at elementary school, which he had attended from hospital.

Like other sufferers of Minamata disease who were poisoned in the womb or as young children, Takishita was still unable to find work when he was in his 20s. He wanted to do something that would allow him to be recognized as an independent adult, so he and his friends decided to arrange a show by enka singer Ishikawa, who was born in Kumamoto Prefecture around the same time as them. The show was held in September 1978 at Minamata city cultural hall, to a full house.

Having gained confidence, Takishita started to work at a camping facility in the city, and in 1993 at the age of 37, he married by arrangement, and he and his wife had a son. However, as time passed, the symptoms of Takishita's illness grew worse, and he started having to rely on a wheelchair.

In the autumn of 2014, as he was approaching his 60th birthday, he asked other patients he had befriended whether they would take part in organizing another concert by Ishikawa, and they set about doing so. Takishita was partly inspired by the desire to show himself as a respectable father to his son, who was then aged 22.

He got busy advertising the concert and soliciting funds, but his body was crying out. He had planned to have 1,800 people turn up to two concerts in the daytime and evening, but started to think this might be an impossible task. However, the number of volunteers who were keen to help out increased, and he pressed on. On Feb. 11, just like before, the Minamata city cultural hall was filled to capacity.

Though Takishita suffered discrimination in the past, residents now support him and other patients in the challenges they face. In his message at the ceremony on May 1, he referred to the concert, saying, "I was able to feel the passion of the city residents. I pay my respects to everyone who turned their thoughts toward us."

Minamata disease was caused by methylmercury in Minamata Bay from chemical manufacturer Chisso Corp.'s Minamata plant, and affected people who ate fish from the bay. A total of 2,282 people have been recognized as patients in Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures, and 373 of them are alive today. A Supreme Court ruling expanded the scope of recognition of the disease in 2013, but only six new cases have been recognized since. Lawsuits seeking recognition and compensation continue across Japan.