Overview
- Minister Hirotaka Ishihara, who spoke Tuesday after a cabinet meeting, said his earlier remarks were unclear and said he had passed a fetal Minamata patient’s welfare request to the Minamata mayor.
- He said an internal check found no case in which a ministry official told victims they were “blessed,” a claim that some members of the victim group have also said they do not recognize.
- Patient and supporter groups, reacting Tuesday, criticized the lack of a direct apology to the patient and said they will take their protest to the Environment Ministry on May 18.
- The dispute traces back to April 30, when Ishihara told patient Kaneko Yuji he would ask Mayor Toshiharu Takaoka about access to disability services, then said on May 1 that making it happen would be difficult, prompting a written protest.
- In Japan, municipalities decide who gets disability and welfare services, so any fix for Minamata patients hinges on what Minamata City approves rather than on a national promise.