William Eugene Smith (December 30, 1918, Wichita, Kansas ? October 15, 1978, Tucson, Arizona) was an American photojournalist known for his refusal to compromise professional standards and his brutally vivid World War II photographs.
In January 1972, Smith was attacked by Chisso employees near Tokyo, in an attempt to stop him from further publicizing the Minamata disease to the world. Although Smith survived the attack, his sight in one eye deteriorated. Smith and his Japanese wife lived in the city of Minamata from 1971 to 1973 and took many photos as part of a photo essay detailing the effects of Minamata disease, which was caused by a Chisso factory discharging heavy metals into water sources around Minamata. One of his most famous works, Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath, taken in December 1971 and published a few months after the 1972 attack, drew worldwide attention to the effects of Minamata disease.
イトケン＞水俣の漁民は、魚をそれこそどんぶりに入れて食べていたでしょうが、加害者のチッソの会社の社員も当然、水俣の海でとれる魚介類を食べていたはずでしょから、水俣病の患者もいたのでは。。。それとも、食する量が少なかったのか、または病気が出始めて昭和31年ころから、水俣漁港からの魚は規制がされて市場には出なかったのか。。。疑問です。