Japan's disease from mercury poison lingers
10/01/2007 | 11:28 PM
SHIRANUI SEA, Japan - The dawn is still
only a faint glow beyond distant mountains, but fisherman Akinori Mori
and his wife, Itsuko, are already hard at work on their boat, reeling
in nets of squid, fish and crabs. Nothing about this placid scene
reveals that Japan's worst environmental disaster unfolded here.
Starting 50 years ago, whole neighborhoods were poisoned by mercury-contaminated fish from these waters. Thousands of people were crippled, and hundreds died agonizing deaths. Babies were born with horrifying deformities. Today, the tragedy known as Minamata Disease is only a dim memory to the rest of the world, and few outside Japan would recognize Chisso Corp. as the company that polluted Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea with deadly methylmercury. But for Akinori, 62, and Itsuko, 58, and many of the people living along these craggy coasts, the disaster never ended.
The Moris' parents ? his father, both her parents ? suffered the ravages of the disease: blinding headaches, crippling loss of sensation in their limbs, insomnia and dizzy spells. Both Akinori and Itsuko increasingly feel the disease in their own bones as they age, in painful hand and leg aches and loss of feeling and coordination from eating tainted fish as children. "Now it's starting in my hands and fingers," said Itsuko as she picked strips of seaweed from her fishing nets in the morning sun. "They're turning white and are all bent."
Like the Moris, Japan has never fully recovered. Indeed, the disease played a large role in creating the Japan of today. It gave birth to the Japanese environmentalist movement, and like the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown and the Union Carbide chemical disaster in Bhopal, India, it became an international cause celebre. It forced the country to face up to the price of the industrial miracle it built out of the wreckage of World War II, encouraged other victims of such negligence to sue for redress, and forced authorities to be much more attentive to protecting the public from the mistakes of Japan Inc.
But the struggle over Minamata is far from finished. At least 2,000 victims have died. Even now, courts are forcing the government to recognize more victims, which some estimate at as many as 30,000. Many are confined to wheelchairs or bed, complaining that diagnosis and treatment are haphazard and inadequate. Lawsuits for further compensation continue. The government still refuses to conduct an epidemiological study to determine the full scope of the poisoning. <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/62734/Japans-disease-from-mercury-poison-lingers>
Starting 50 years ago, whole neighborhoods were poisoned by mercury-contaminated fish from these waters. Thousands of people were crippled, and hundreds died agonizing deaths. Babies were born with horrifying deformities. Today, the tragedy known as Minamata Disease is only a dim memory to the rest of the world, and few outside Japan would recognize Chisso Corp. as the company that polluted Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea with deadly methylmercury. But for Akinori, 62, and Itsuko, 58, and many of the people living along these craggy coasts, the disaster never ended.
The Moris' parents ? his father, both her parents ? suffered the ravages of the disease: blinding headaches, crippling loss of sensation in their limbs, insomnia and dizzy spells. Both Akinori and Itsuko increasingly feel the disease in their own bones as they age, in painful hand and leg aches and loss of feeling and coordination from eating tainted fish as children. "Now it's starting in my hands and fingers," said Itsuko as she picked strips of seaweed from her fishing nets in the morning sun. "They're turning white and are all bent."
Like the Moris, Japan has never fully recovered. Indeed, the disease played a large role in creating the Japan of today. It gave birth to the Japanese environmentalist movement, and like the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown and the Union Carbide chemical disaster in Bhopal, India, it became an international cause celebre. It forced the country to face up to the price of the industrial miracle it built out of the wreckage of World War II, encouraged other victims of such negligence to sue for redress, and forced authorities to be much more attentive to protecting the public from the mistakes of Japan Inc.
But the struggle over Minamata is far from finished. At least 2,000 victims have died. Even now, courts are forcing the government to recognize more victims, which some estimate at as many as 30,000. Many are confined to wheelchairs or bed, complaining that diagnosis and treatment are haphazard and inadequate. Lawsuits for further compensation continue. The government still refuses to conduct an epidemiological study to determine the full scope of the poisoning. <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/62734/Japans-disease-from-mercury-poison-lingers>
Japan investigates 'nuclear leak'
Japanese officials are investigating
the possibility of a second radioactive leak from a nuclear plant,
following Monday's earthquake in central Japan. Drums with low-level
nuclear waste fell over during the tremors, and some of their lids were
found open. Water containing radioactive material is already known to
have leaked from the plant into the sea, but officials say it will not
harm the environment. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6902142.stm>
Japanese worried about nuclear safety
An earthquake earlier this week in
northern Japan caused a nuclear plant to leak a small amount of
radioactive material, prompting safety concerns. BBC News website users
in Japan express their views on the accident, and how worried they are
about further nuclear accidents as a result of seismic activity. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6905307.stm>
Secrecy of Japanese executions
BBC News, Tokyo
Nor would Hiroki Fukawa, a convicted double killer.
Japan does not tell death row prisoners that they are to be hanged until the last possible minute.
This has been condemned by the international community.
The failure to give advanced notice of executions is incompatible with articles 2, 7 and 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Human Rights, according to the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
But it is arguably no more cruel than the conditions in which death row inmates are kept while awaiting their fate.
Some reports put the average amount of time a prisoner given the death penalty waits for the sentence to be carried out at seven years and 11 months. It is hard to get an accurate figure. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7132123.stm>
Paying the price for leading the way
BBC News, Tokyo
Japanese offices are using an increasing amount of energy
On the flat roof of a department store in Tokyo's fashionable shopping district Ginza there is a wide patch of grass and some flower beds.
It is about the size of a small suburban garden.
The soil is just a few centimetres thick. It has been developed specially for this purpose - even a thin layer can support plants and grasses.
The rooftop garden also helps to conserve energy. In the summer when the temperature on the exposed concrete of the roof hovers between 60 and 70 degrees, underneath the soil it is just 30 degrees.
"The soil is very light," says Kenji Masaki, the contractor who supplies it. "You only need to water it once a week, and we don't use chemical fertilisers either."
Japan is often described as the most energy efficient country in the world. After the "oil shocks" of the 1970s the government decided it had to reduce its reliance on fuel and energy from elsewhere. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7138944.stm>
Japan deadlock over US warships
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r Fukuda has rejected rumours of an impending election
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Japan's government has extended the parliamentary session into the new year for the first time in 14 years, in an effort to pass a controversial bill.Opposition MPs, who control the upper house, are blocking the bill, which would allow Japan to refuel US warships involved in conflict in Afghanistan.
But Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is determined to secure a renewal for the mandate of the refuelling mission.
Japanese vessels that had been supporting US-led coalition warships in the Indian Ocean returned home at the end of October, when the mandate for their mission expired.Analysts say the stand-off may damage Japan's security alliance with the US.
The opposition's continued refusal to approve the bill is causing Mr Fukuda severe problems, says the BBC's Chris Hogg in Tokyo.
While deliberations continue, it is hard for him to get anything else through Japan's parliament, the Diet.
And he is also finding it difficult to leave Japan on trips he wants to make to China and to Europe, our correspondent adds.
But he says he will not back down and he has rebuffed rumours that he is about to call a snap election to defuse the situation.
"It is not the time to think of dissolving the lower house now," he told reporters.
The opposition can delay the bill for only 60 days - until mid-January.
After that Mr Fukuda is expected to force it through parliament with a rarely used procedure that will ensure it becomes law. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7143748.stm>
Japan tests anti-missile system
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The missile was fired from a Japanese warship off Hawaii
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Japan has for the first time shot down a ballistic missile in flight, testing a defence system aimed at warding off any missile threat from its neighbours.A Japanese warship stationed off Hawaii launched a US-developed Standard-3 interceptor missile to destroy a mock target fired from onshore.
Japan and the US have worked closely on missile defence since North Korea flew a missile over northern Japan in 1998.The US has conducted such tests in the past, but it is the first by a US ally.
Japanese government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura described the test as very significant for Japan's national security.
Meanwhile Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba dismissed concerns about high costs and said Japan would continue working to increase the credibility of the system."The Defence Ministry and the government have been putting efforts into the development of ballistic missile defence, and we will continue to install the needed equipment and conduct exercises," he said.
"We can't talk about how much money should be spent when human lives are at stake," he told reporters.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7149197.stm>
Japan MPs moot halt to executions
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By Andre Vornic
BBC East Asia reporter |
A cross-party group of Japanese legislators has said it has drafted a bill proposing a four-year moratorium on the death penalty.
The bill, a step towards abolition, will shortly be submitted to parliament and introduces life imprisonment without parole as a substitute.
Japan and the United States are the only industrial democracies to maintain capital punishment.
But the initiative is likely to meet stiff opposition. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7238098.stm>