Kirk had recently written about Ishimurei Michiko-san, the recently deceased, Amakusa-born, Minamata-raised author of works on the mercury poisoning known as Minamata Byo. The Kumanichi has an article with a lovely photo of her by the Minamata coast in her later years and a description of her final days (she died at 90 after a 16-year battle with Parkinson’s). Poignantly, shortly before her passing, she had asked for water but was unable to drink yet still possessed sufficient faculty and grace to say, “Do not cry.” - William