THE NINTH ISSUE OF FIHRM-AP - Promotional Initiatives of the Minamata Disease Museum
About the author: Hatsue Koizumi
Hatsue Koizumi joined the Supporting Center for Minamata Disease (Soshisha) in 2015. In 2016, she graduated from the College of Asia Pacific Studies (APS), Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU), majoring in environment development studies. Koizumi is currently employed by Soshisha, where she curates exhibitions, constructs databases, arranges school visits, field research and tours, and holds general affairs for a project named Minamata: The Eyes of Photographers.
About the Supporting Center for Minamata Disease
The Supporting Center for Minamata Disease (hereinafter referred to as “Soshisha”), meaning “caring each other” in Japanese, was established in 1974 in the south of Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture in Japan. It was first founded to provide shelter for patients diagnosed with Minamata disease at a young age as well as those isolated in their community despite winning the first trial of the lawsuit against the Chisso Corporation, a Japanese chemical company. Since then, Soshisha has played an important role in assisting patients without a confirmed diagnosis of the disease in several lawsuits and in negotiating with Chisso. There are currently six full-time employees and around 1,000 members consisting of patients and their family. Soshisha’s scope of duties include: ① spreading knowledge of Minamata disease, ② providing companionship, and ③ organizing supporting activities in disease-stricken areas.
Promotional Initiatives of the Minamata Disease Museum
Methylmercury pollution on a calm sea
Surrounded by islands, citrus orchards extend across the coastal slopes of the Shiranui Sea. This is a serene pastoral scene commonly found along the Minamata Bay. About seventy years ago, a strange disease appeared among the residents who lived adjacent to this peaceful coast. The disease was later known as Minamata disease, caused by ocean pollution.
The underlying cause came from a Minamata-based chemical factory owned by the Chisso Corporation, which released industrial wastewater containing methylmercury from the production of acetaldehyde. This led to marine pollution, thus the affected seafood. After the residents consumed a large amount of contaminated seafood, they started to have difficulty moving freely. They also developed symptoms including paralysis and a loss of sensation, which would never go away. Patients with such a disease were first excluded by other locals who were afraid of being infected. Upon filing lawsuits against Chisso, they were even labeled as “those faking illness for sympathy money.” Minamata disease brings not only physical torture, but mental pain and estrangement from neighborhoods, which cannot be easily resolved even after a long period of time.
The acetaldehyde produced by Chisso was one of the plastic raw materials that were indispensable for the manufacturing industry in Japan during its period of rapid economic growth. In other words, Minamata disease appeared in the shadows of a nation’s prosperous economy, and Japanese people today have more or less benefited from the economic boom amid the spread of the disease. In this sense, to learn about the disease is to better understand the foundation upon which people’s lives have been built.
The Minamata Disease Museum.
Exhibits at the Minamata Disease Museum
The Minamata Disease Museum was formerly a mushroom factory where Minamata disease patients and their supporters worked. In 1988, Soshisha renovated the factory into an exhibition space and gave it a new name.. Although the exhibition space is not large, there isa wealth of objects on display. Most of the materials come from patients, local residents, and movement supporters who assist the patients with lawsuits and negotiations. The most eye-catching part is the hut as a cage for cat experiments. During that time, based on experiment results, Chisso confirmed that the cause of the disease come from wastewater discharged from their factory, but they did not take any actions. That is to say, the hut is one of the tangible pieces of evidence proving the cause of the disease.
The cage for cat experiments at the Chisso factory.
The exhibition space consists of sections with 11 themes in total, such as Shiranui— The Fertile Sea and People’s Livelihood, Looking into the Underlying Cause, Patient Outreach Campaigns, Damaged Health, The Social and Mental Damages, Polluted Ocean, and When People Talk about Minamata Disease. Each section features information boards, along with the staff of Soshisha giving a museum tour. The background of Minamata disease is rather complex and more than simply an event that deeply affected the development of modern Japan, since there were also geological factors involved. For this reason, the museum adopts a shared-dialogue method between the guides and visitors, and this approach has been proven effective to engage the audiences. There are no prescribed instructions for the tour content, and the guides can do independent research on topics they are interested in, based on which they walk viewers through the exhibits, in addition to their past experiences.
As Minamata disease patients and people around them grew older, most of the early witnesses passed away over time. Even a few fetal patients born with mercury exposure through the placenta are now in their sixties. Soon, people will no longer be able to hear stories directly from those who were personally involved. Therefore, for future exhibitions and curating, it is vital that the museum adopt more diverse methods to deliver messages, aside from the testimonies of the individuals affected by the incident.
Learning through photography workshops
Against this backdrop, the museum, with the assistance of external partners, has developed several education and outreach materials in recent years. The following is an overview of two of them.
The first is photo albums. Over the years, photographers have extensively documented the area through photos. Shoshisha staff, supporters, and relevant professionals have also taken many pictures. Based on the patient’s symptoms, the negotiation between the patients working at Chisso and the company president, the current geology of the Minamata Bay, etc., the museum gathered, selected, and compiled a large number of informative photos. At a workshop, participants were invited to name these photos in a group discussion, which is a method called photo language. They must first observe the photo content first, and then picture its scenario and vibe. As participants discuss the story behind a photo, they can learn about the differences among one another’s interpretations. Sometimes, the photo title decided after in-depth discussions may be far from what really happened.
Materials used in a photography workshop.
A group discussion in photography workshops.
At the end of the workshop, the true story behind each photo will be shared. Meanwhile, the museum will once again emphasize that there is no standard answer for naming an image. The purpose is to enable participants to understand each other’s differences in opinions, values, and feelings, as well as to foster a positive attitude towards interpreting information. That is the approach we should adopt when confronting public health challenges such as Minamata disease or human rights and historical issues.
Soshisha staff reading story cards.
Learning through stories
The other material is the story cards, with two stories published by the museum in total. One is Mitsuko’s Poem, which describes how women living on the coast of Minamata led their lives under the torment of the disease. The other is Shiranui, which depicts the circle of life in the Shiranui Sea.
The script of Mitsuko’s Poem was written by Rimiko Yoshinaga, the reader of the work and the daughter of Mitsuko Oya, the protagonist in the story. Previous educational materials mostly focused on the pain caused by Minamata disease; this piece of work also attempts to show the resilience that Mitsuko had been carrying throughout her life, allowing readers to feel the weight of her experiences. Shiranui, on the other hand, centers on the Shiranui Sea, which describes the changes in the relationship between pollution, humans, and nature from the perspective of a body of water that has been buried alongside sludge and polluted fish to create a new park..
The cover of Mitsuko’s Poem
The use of story cards is a form of performance in which pictures are shown to the audience with the story read aloud. The practice is very common in Japanese schools, as it can be conducted by teachers for students or by students for one another. The story card program at the museum have received many praises since its launch, such as “the Minamata residents read the story in a soft and soothing tone” and “it was supposed to be simply adults reading the stories to children, but in the end, even the adults who read the story were moved to tears.” Feedback like this shows that the stories resonate with so many people.
These materials are designed for students of all levels from primary school to university, and can be downloaded from the museum website. Currently, they are frequently used in schools as a preliminary exercise for introducing this historical event or as preview materials before visits. In a classroom setting when there are several topics to be covered, these materials can help change the traditional didactic method in education and make it easier for students to learn about Minamata disease.