Kirk here with a post about reducing environmental mercury. This has a strong connection to the Minamata disease issue but will impact people throughout Japan.
By the way, I have a pet peeve about the transition to LED as a replacement to the traditional, Japanese-style “pendant” lights. The problem is, when I had to replace a 10-year-old pendant LED light (even LED will wear out eventually), I could not just replace the main lamp (LED) part – I had to buy a new “set” (that is the core lamp and the “lamp shade” or kasa [笠]). This means more trash. In the past, I could just replace the fluorescent lamp and continue to use my old shade. Environmental improvement in one sense, more trash and a step back in another. :(
