To think
it was another day
going to the bay
catching fish
being at the dinner table
with the grandmother,
the fisherman,
the farmer,
the child,
eating to our hearts' content.
To think
it was another day
in 1908,
when we welcomed Chisso Corp
with open arms.
In fact,
we invited
your workers
over for fish,
but they insisted
at the dinner table,
“Oh no! Do not burden us like this!”
But they knew that the fish
were not the same.
It was because they
produced fertilizers
with toxic chemicals
released
into our majestic Minamata.
Because of you
the Minamata Disease was born,
a neurological syndrome
by mercury
causing the brain to be torn.
We soon realized
our fish,
our animals,
our bay,
our people,
were not
the same.
The grandmother,
it was another day
going to the bay
catching fish
being at the dinner table
with the grandmother,
the fisherman,
the farmer,
the child,
eating to our hearts' content.
To think
it was another day
in 1908,
when we welcomed Chisso Corp
with open arms.
In fact,
we invited
your workers
over for fish,
but they insisted
at the dinner table,
“Oh no! Do not burden us like this!”
But they knew that the fish
were not the same.
It was because they
produced fertilizers
with toxic chemicals
released
into our majestic Minamata.
Because of you
the Minamata Disease was born,
a neurological syndrome
by mercury
causing the brain to be torn.
We soon realized
our fish,
our animals,
our bay,
our people,
were not
the same.
The grandmother,