Chisso

Most residents were fishermen who made their living from the bay and gathered around dinner tables to enjoy the fruit of their daily hard work.

But all that changed forever in 1932 when Chisso Corporation, a powerful chemical company, began dumping methylmercury, the deadliest form of mercury, directly into Minamata Bay.

The factory's wastewater flowed freely into the sea, carrying the invisible poison with it.

At first, no one noticed because the mercury had no smell, no taste, and no warning signs.

They had been eating the same fish their ancestors had relied on for centuries, only now each bite was laced with a death sentence.

And here's where things get interesting.

The Chisso Corporation knew about mercury pollution long before the government acknowledged it.

But instead of stopping it, they hid the truth.