Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières
, by YAMANAKA Karen
Covid-19 crisis that has spread worldwide since 2020 had various impacts on Japanese society. Under the crisis, the power of the Japanese left/centre-left parties weakened. On the other hand, the power of far-right parties and the right-wing opposition parties has increased. Under the situation, (…)
, by ANDREWS William
The biggest non-news story of the year in Japan was surely the announcement of the “word of the year” as san mitsu, or the “three Cs” (confined and enclosed spaces, crowded places and close-contact settings).
The civil society is fragile enough already in Japan, with its various restrictions (…)
, by MOSSIALOS Elias , SAKAMOTO Haruka , SHIMIZU Kazuki , WHARTON George
Japan has seen a resurgence of covid-19, and the effective reproduction number has been above 1 for two months. The daily confirmed cases reached nearly 2000 in early August.1
Since the start of the pandemic the country has focused on controlling clusters of more than five covid-19 cases and (…)
, by SALIH Nabil
In the streets of Baghdad, Iraqis battle a corrupt political class, war, poverty, and now a pandemic that has ravaged an ailing health sector.
On Baghdad’s al-Rashid street, stalls, tea houses and restaurants serve unmasked customers in crammed markets in spite of COVID-19 rapidly spreading (…)
, by Kyodo News
KUMAMOTO, Japan (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday in a video message sent to an international environmental conference in Kumamoto Prefecture that Japan has overcome the damage from mercury poisoning in the 1950s and 1960s, angering those still suffering from the Minamata (…)
, by Kyodo News
Minamata recognition criteria called outrage
The government must relax its strict criteria for officially recognizing victims of Minamata disease so more people can receive compensation, according to panelists at a symposium on the mercury-poisoning disease.
Recognizing a woman posthumously (…)
, by Mainichi Shimbun
The Ministry of the Environment is suspected of asking a doctor to perjure himself to support a Kumamoto Prefectural Government decision to dismiss an elderly woman’s claim for Minamata disease aid, it has been learned.
In April 2012, the Osaka High Court overturned a 2010 lower court ruling (…)
, by Kyodo News
Minamata resolution still elusive
The new redress steps for uncertified Minamata disease patients are not likely to lead to a complete settlement of decades-old disputes involving the mercury poisoning disease, panelists at a recent Tokyo symposium indicated.
More than 40,000 people with the (…)
, by MARRAN Christine L.
A Slowly Emerging Picture
On 22 March 2011, an exhausting court battle finally ended for over 2000 victims of mercury poisoning in Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures. In sum, the agreement, decades in the making, was as follows as outlines in the Japan Times (31 March): “Chisso will provide (…)
, by Japan Times
Minamata recognition marked
KUMAMOTO – Events to commemorate the 55th anniversary of Minamata disease’s official recognition were held Sunday in Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, and Tokyo, with participants in Tokyo comparing the mercury poisoning with the ongoing nuclear crisis in Fukushima (…)
, by JOHNSTON Eric
“The most dangerous enemy to truth and freedom amongst us is the compact majority.’’ Henrik Ibsen, “An Enemy of the People.’’
As public spaces in Japan go, Minamata’s Eco Park is quite pleasant. Unlike the “Designed by local elders and built by a yakuza-linked construction firm now under (…)
, by PONS Philippe
To see the sea caress the rocks, algae cultures and tangerine trees growing up the hillsides behind them, it is difficult to imagine that these little islands of the Shiranui Sea have, for the last half-century, been the theater of an unending drama: the Minamata illness, a name which refers to (…)
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