The image you see was taken in 2013 after Akio Mizoguchi won a supreme court decision to have his mother recognized posthumously as a Minamata disease patient. As the article states,
“The focal point at the Supreme Court . . . was whether the government’s criteria for recognition of Minamata disease victims, adopted in 1977, are reasonable. The criteria set tougher standards to recognize victims, requiring a combination of a sensation disorder plus separate symptoms.”
The victory led, however, to a political stalemate. While the court had ruled that the 1977 criteria were too stringent, the national government said it would continue to use those criteria. This gap between the supreme court ruling and the stated position of the government led Kumamoto Governor Kabashima to decide to suspend the evaluation process until the conflict between the court and the government could be resolved. As of June, there was a backlog of 1,135 applications awaiting adjudication.
Recently, after the government has said that it would follow the 2013 supreme court ruling, Governor Kabashima announced that this adjustment in the government’s position has made it possible for the evaluation of applications to resume after a hiatus of more than 2 years.
To the best of my knowledge, this newest development has not yet been reported about in English. You can find reports in Japanese, however, at the following URLs:
http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nnp/syasetu/article/181564 http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASH7D4W3TH7DTLVB00X.html
– Kirk
#Kumamoto #Minamata #disease
