Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Aileen Mioko Smith, the executive director of environmental group Green Action and the former wife of renowned photojournalist Eugène Smith, took part in a symposium at Rikkyo University on Saturday in support of the six plaintiffs from the Fukushima region suffering from thyroid cancer.

The symposium centered on environmental disasters such as the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the Minamata mercury poisoning that Smith and her husband documented.

Parallels were drawn between the two environmental disasters that have had a deep impact on Japan. In both cases, the authorities’ response was heavily criticized.

After a screening of the film Minamata on the last part of the life and work of Eugene Smith, who was played by Johnny Depp, a panel discussion took place between Smith, lawyers and the Fukushima victims.

Referring to her husband, Smith insisted on the role and importance of journalists and photographers to feel what their subjects are feeling rather than writing emotionless stories that are too similar.

She also opened up about the injuries her husband endured after guards from the Chisso company responsible for the mercury pollution in Minamata Bay beat him up and left him badly injured.

Lawyer Keinichi Ido, who is defending the six young Fukushima victims with thyroid cancer, highlighted the problem of harassment and ostracism faced by the victims that prevents them from showing their faces.

Eugene Smith’s work is one of the most famous photographic documentaries in the history of photojournalism. His work helped to change the perception of industrial pollution.

Aileen Mioko Smith continues the environmental fight of her late husband through her NGO, which she founded in 1991 and which now focuses on the damage caused by the nuclear industry and the means to put an end to it.