Career
His most famous work covered the effects of Minamata disease, a type of severe mercury poisoning that occurred in the city of Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture during the 1950s and 1960s. His publications included Minamata disease (水俣病, Minamata-byō) (1972) and Minamata Georgia Utsusu Sekai (水俣が映す世界, Minamata Georgia Utsusu Sekai) (1989). He died June 11, 2012 of acute myelocytic leukemia at his home in Kumamoto.
1934 Born in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan
1959 Graduates from Kumamoto University medical department and goes on to study psychoneurology
1972 Minamata-byō is published
1989 Minamata Georgia Utsusu Sekai is published
1999 Retires from Kumamoto University and joins Kumamoto Gakuen University
2004 Minamata-byō is published in English as Minamata Disease
2012 Dies of leukemia.