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Osaka court recognizes more victims of Minamata mercury poisoning; awards them compensation

9 Comments
By MARI YAMAGUCHI

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Minamata disease, first diagnosed in 1956, was later linked to the consumption of seafood from the Minamata Bay on Japan's southern main island of Kyushu, where Chisso dumped mercury compounds.

The tardiness of Japanese justice for victims of corporate crime is a feature, not a bug of the Japanese bureaucratic corporaceatic combine.

Minimizing and delaying compensation, relying on their depredations to do away with the victims in time, it is a hideous and inhuman technique of capitalism.

I wonder if the recent Johnny Depp movie urged the court to take action.

-1 ( +11 / -12 )

Glad they won, but to be awarded 18,000 bucks for a lifetime of suffering at the hands of such an insidious corporation as Chisso, is an absolute slap in face.

Hopefully Japan Inc. doesn't lodge an appeal, resulting in victims get a reduced amount... or nothing.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

Anyone not familiar with the history of the Chisso Minamata-byo scandal should look it up. It's what happens when the government and corporations work together to cover up horrendous crimes. It's also why many people have so much scepticism around TEPCO and its discharge of #ahem# "treated water".

1 ( +11 / -10 )

What happened at Minamata was unbelievable. They knew that the mercury from their factory was killing people and then they installed a filtration system that they knew would do nothing to filter mercury and then just continued to release the mercury into a different river. It wasn’t an accident, and it is no exaggeration to say that the people responsible were mass murderers.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

Will they be taxed on their meager legal settlement?

2 ( +4 / -2 )

The tardiness of Japanese justice for victims of corporate crime is a feature, not a bug of the Japanese bureaucratic corporaceatic combine.

So very true.

Minimizing and delaying compensation, relying on their depredations to do away with the victims in time, it is a hideous and inhuman technique of capitalism.

Agree 100%. Well said.

Glad they won, but to be awarded 18,000 bucks for a lifetime of suffering at the hands of such an insidious corporation as Chisso, is an absolute slap in face.

Honestly, if it were me, I wouldn't even accept it. Like you said, it's a slap to the face and shows just how much the J gov and J corp view the people of Japan. Think about that the next time Japanese nationalism rears its ugly head.

Hopefully Japan Inc. doesn't lodge an appeal, resulting in victims get a reduced amount... or nothing.

Honestly, I would not be surprised at all if they did that. Would NOT put it past them.

Anyone not familiar with the history of the Chisso Minamata-byo scandal should look it up. It's what happens when the government and corporations work together to cover up horrendous crimes. It's also why many people have so much scepticism around TEPCO and its discharge of #ahem# "treated water"

Exactly. Excellent point.

What happened at Minamata was unbelievable. They knew that the mercury from their factory was killing people and then they installed a filtration system that they knew would do nothing to filter mercury and then just continued to release the mercury into a different river. It wasn’t an accident, and it is no exaggeration to say that the people responsible were mass murderers.

Absolutely they were mass murderers AND thugs. And the thing is, the main mass murderer's granddaughter is now the Empress of Japan.

Can't make this stuff up.

Chisso president, later chairman Yutaka Egashira (later maternal grandfather of Masako, Empress of Japan) used **yakuza in order to threaten and silence patients and their supporters.[8] Patients and their supporters started the "single shareholder" movement by buying one share of Chisso each, which was aimed at accusing the executives of Chisso in its general meeting. A thousand of the single shareholders participating in the movement gathered in front of a hall in Osaka to attend the general meeting called on November 28, 1970, but the company prevented them from entering the hall by asking yakuza to become shareholders and occupy the hall. The meeting ended in five minutes with all the bills submitted by the board approved.[8]**

In addition, Chisso had American photographer and photo-journalist W. Eugene Smith beaten by yakuza goons after Smith published a highly regarded photo-essay showing the caustic injuries and birth defects Chisso had caused the Minamata population.

Chisso - Wikipedia

-9 ( +5 / -14 )

Just the District Court Ruling. Standby for the inevitable appeal to the Supreme Court.

Keep it going long enough so that the plaintiffs die and they do not have to pay anything.

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

The central government had argued that there was no evidence to prove the plaintiffs suffered from Minamata disease

…..

But there was overwhelming evidence that there was and that position was extremely callous-governments lie to their people and continue to do so!

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

There’s a list of cases like this in Japan and the latest will be the radiological disaster in Fukushima which has seen hundreds of thousands of times of radioactive debris places all over the prefecture and incinerated as far a way as Fukuoka!

The tritium release is not the worst of it by any means.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

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