Minamata : pollution and the struggle for democracy in postwar Japan / Timothy S. George.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

George, Timothy S.

Series:

Harvard East Asian monographs ; 194.

Harvard East Asian monographs ; 194

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mercury--Toxicology--Japan--Minamata-shi--History--20th century.

Mercury.

Public health--Japan--Minamata-shi--History--20th century.

Public health.

Environmental health--Japan--Minamata-shi--History--20th century.

Environmental health.

Environmental Pollution--history.

History.

Mercury--Toxicology.

Japan.

Mercury Poisoning--history.

Community Participation.

Environmental Exposure--history.

Human Rights.

Politics.

Japan--Minamata-shi.

Medical Subjects:

Environmental Pollution--history.

Japan.

Mercury Poisoning--history.

Community Participation.

Environmental Exposure--history.

Human Rights.

Politics.

Physical Description:

xvi, 385 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge (Mass.) : Harvard University Asia Center : Distributed by Harvard University Press, 2001.

Summary:

Nearly forty years after the outbreak of the "Minamata Disease," it remains one of the most horrific examples of environmental poisoning. Based on primary documents and interviews, this book describes three rounds of responses to this incidence of mercury poisoning, focusing on the efforts of its victims and their supporters, particularly the activities of grassroots movements and popular campaigns, to secure redress. George argues that Japan's postwar democracy is ad hoc, fragile, and dependent on definition through citizen action and that the redress effort is exemplary of the great changes in the second and third postwar decades that redefined democracy in Japan.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: Part I: Background, 1907-1955

1 Town, Factory, and Empire

The Setting 13/ The Factory Comes to Minamara I6/

The Growth of Nitchitsu 18/ Nitchitsu, Minamata, and

Imperial Japan 21

2 Minamata Before the Disease

Nitchitsu and Minamata Society 26/ Defeat, Recovery,

and Boom 30/ Minamata Politics in the 1950S 35/ Life

in Minamata in the 1950s: Hamamoto Tsuginori 38

Part II: The First Round of Responses

3 Discovering the Disease and Its Cause

4 The First Solution, 1959

The Fisherfolk's Struggle for Compensation 71/ The

Victims' Struggle for Compensation io2/ "As Clean

as River Water": The Third Leg of the "Solution" 114

Part III: "Years of Silence"?

5 Maintaining the Solution

The Fishers i25/ The Patients 144

6 Change Undermines the Solution

Changes in Minamata 154/ Changes in Japan 171

Part IV: The Second Round of Responses, 1968-1973

7 Bringing the Issue to the Nation

1968 179/ An End to Solidarity: Leave It up to Others,

or Sue? g9i/ Kawamoto Teruo and the Uncertified

Patients 203/ New Forms of Action and a Broadening

Base of Support 2lo

8 In and Out of Court: The Second Solution

The Leaflet War in Minamata 222/ Direct Negotiations

in Tokyo 228/ Defections and Confrontations 235/ The

Mediation Group and the Forgery Incident 238/ The Trial:

Proving Negligence 24I/ After the Verdict: Negotiating from

a Position of Strength 249

Part V: Since 1973

9 Minamata and the Tragedy of Japan's "Modernity"

Remembering: Tales and Lessons of Minamata 261/

Events Since 1973: Toward a More Complete Solution 263/

Painfully Slow Healing 271

Conclusion: Minamata and Postwar Democracy

Epilogue: Restless Spirits

Reference Matter

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [339]-364) and index.

ISBN:

0674007859

0674003640

9780674003644

OCLC:

45247369