In the case of a deceased woman, Japan’s supreme court ruled today that the Japanese government’s certification criterion were excessively stringent and that the woman should have been recognized as a Minamata disease victim. Kumamoto Prefecture and the Japanese government have long been criticized for establishing excessively demanding criteria and thus unfairly failing to compensate many victims. Today, I think the supreme court’s decision validates those criticisms and reflects very badly on the approach taken by the prefectural and national governments.
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20130416/t10013953751000.html