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Minamata is a very small fishing and farming town in Kumamoto, on Kyushu island in southern Japan. A beautiful place, graced by a gem-like harbor and a rushing river, Minamata does not seem to be the scene of a tragedy. Today, most young Japanese people are unfamiliar with what happened here so many years ago. But, just like Hiroshima or Nagasaki, Minamata is world-famous for a different kind of manmade catastrophe. About fifty years ago, strange things began to happen in Minamata. At first, unable to understand what was happening to them, the local people were afraid to talk. Some of the townspeople began experiencing delirium, blackouts, and numbness of their arms and legs. Soon, some of them became partially or completely blind while others experienced slurred speech. Others were thought to have become insane when, unable to control the movements of their appendages, they shouted at random. Those afflicted were rumored to be possessed by the devil when they could not control their facial muscles and their contorted expression made them look like "monsters." Local doctors were dumb-founded by the epidemic outbreak. The sinister symptoms began to afflict the animals of Minamata. Cats and dogs began to exhibit inexplicable behavior. Townspeople reported that cats were "committing suicide." Some cats chased their tails for days on end until they dropped from exhaustion. Dogs disappeared and were found dead days later. Even more shocking, afflicted birds began falling from the skies. In 1932 the small town of Minamata boasted only one large factory which was owned by a company called the "Chisso Corporation." In Japanese the word "chisso" means nitrogen. The Chisso Corporation was in the fertilizer business. For hundreds of years, the townspeople of Minamata had lived primitive lives as fishers and farmers. Minamatans were glad when, in 1901, the Chisso Corporation set up a plant. Employment became abundant. By 1932, the Chisso plant had become very large. Since the Chisso Corporation was not involved with munitions manufacturing, they were spared bombing during the war and confiscation by the allies after the end of World War Two. By 1950 Chisso had become one of the leading businesses in Japan. Hand-in-hand, the Japanese government worked with companies like the Chisso Corporation in order to provide much needed jobs to a post war Japan. Chisso became so successful that it expanded into other chemical manufacturing. By 1953, the strange plague had directly affected almost one-half of all the people in the small town of Minamata. People who came down with this bizarre disease were treated like lepers. Because no one knew if the disease were contagious, society shunned the sufferers. Minamata babies began to be born with grotesque deformities and massive brain damage. Minamata fishermen began to catch two and three headed fish. At this point the government and the Chisso Corporation became alarmed.