We headed straight to the next city area that is Minamata. The ride there was rather long and we took the opportunity to take a nap till we reached Minamata. We were greeted by the local tour guide at the Minamata City Hall. Then, we took a short stroll along the recreational park of Minamata. The place was calm and breezy as the sun rose in a pool of crimson gold. We were told that the place was buid over the toxic waste of Mercury. We visited the memorial and took some pictures. We made our way to the Minamata Municipal Museum to enquire more on the cause of the disease that is mercury poisoning. A victim of the disease was kind enough to share her heart warming experience. We felt sympathetic towards her family as she lost her father and grandfather due to the Minamata disease. We learned that the disease was transmitted via the consumption of fish in the mercury contaminated rivers. Next we headed to the mini soap factory. We had fun making soap out of baking soda and used oil. It requires a lot of patience and teamwork to stir the two ingredients. In the end, our hard efforts finally paid off as each of us received a recycled soap product as a token of appreciation…


Zaki