Osaka

Osaka Castle Grounds

Liberty Osaka Human Rights Museum Logo

I had no idea what Osaka would be like. A few Japanese people that I had met would always have a certain look when I told them we were going to Osaka. Eyebrows would raise and heads would nod. I still don't really know quite why, but I suppose there is something unique about Osakans that is lost in translation for me.

I really enjoyed Osaka. It was a nice change from Kyoto. In Osaka we began to feel more heat, I guess going more south warmed up the temperature for us.

We went to Liberty Osaka Human Rights Museum. This was one of my favorite museums on the tour. It had focuses on 7 different groups that had suffered discrimination in Japan. One of the groups was the Minamata Diseased. I was unaware of this situation. It left me horribly saddened and curious. How could this happen? I have read a bit about it and it is really heartbreaking. For those of you who don't know, Minamata Disease was caused by severe mercury poisoning. The mercury was discharged into the water of Minimata Bay, Shiranui Bay and Minimata River as waste from the Chisso Corporation, a chemical company, from 1932 to 1968. The fish were exposed to the mercury and then eaten by the people and the disease spread rapidly. Some side effects of mercury poisoning are numbness in the hands and feet, hearing and vision loss, coma, paralysis, insanity, death and congenital disease such as cerebral palsy.The government knew about this for 30 years and did little to nothing to prevent the pollution. The way that it was all handled maybe saddened me the most. In a video that I saw in the museum, it was showing a group of victims and their relatives, who were asking for an apology from the Environmental Minister and government for ignoring this for so long and the Minister would beat around the bush, but never offered a heartfelt apology, she simply left it at "We will take that request into consideration". These people are still affected today! The woman asking for the apology has a grandson that is affected. It was outrageous that the Minister would not just say "We're sorry." I understand the need to be diplomatic but what about the need to be human? It was frustrating to see. Another thing that I really enjoyed about the museum, were all of the videos. It can be difficult to get the fullest experience of a museum when there isn't much English. Being a visual person, I really appreciated all of the videos (and English).

We also were able to visit Osaka Castle. The grounds were beautiful and vast, there was so much of it. Its hard to imagine what it would be like in its operational days.