Minami playing Aileen Smith, Johnny Depp as Eugene Smith.For me, it was an opportunity to figure out a way in which I could help the world.” This was communicating between two cultures.”Īileen continued: “As a student, you just write papers. Later, having spent time in the United States, Aileen heard about Minamata, and it was clear that she wanted to go. I would wonder where the helpers would come from or why my Japanese friend would live in a shack.” “I was always interested in justice, even as a child as we lived in Japan ー relatively well-to-do, with an American father and the biggest house in the neighborhood. At the time she was a fresh graduate of Stanford University. ”Īileen also explained her own background, and what brought her to Minamata as an American-Japanese who had grown up between two cultures. “His war injuries had led him to be very dependent on the medical profession, and a lot of his photo essays were to do with this group, like country doctors and midwives. This can be seen in his photo essay Country Doctor, and his photography of Albert Schweitzer’s work in West Gabon. Later in his life he suffered beatings, and even malnutrition, when he temporarily quit his job at LIFE magazine.Īileen then talked about the photographer’s affinity for social issues, portraying suffering, and those trying to cure the victims. He felt that somehow, in a former life, he belonged to that region.”Įugene Smith had been a war correspondent, and had suffered several injuries due to plane crashes. He was injured at age 26 in Okinawa, and he saw all the suffering and injured civilians. “Gene had always wanted to return to Japan. It was the last major work by Eugene Smith in his 50s, after over 30 years of a prolific career at LIFE magazine, Newsweek, and TIME. It was the first work for Aileen, just in her 20s. She refers to him as “Gene” with moving familiarity, and talks about the period of her life with him as “very dear to me.”ĭocumenting the mercury poisoning victims in Minamata in the 1970s was a monumental task in many ways for the people involved. It’s clear from talking to Aileen Smith that the memory of her husband has a special place in her heart. Aileen Mioko Smith sits down for an interview in July 2021.Eugene Smith, the process of Minamata becoming a reality, and what we can do about the environmental crisis going forward. Eugene Smith in 1975.Īnticipating the impact of the story on today’s environmentally conscious public, JAPAN Forward sat down with Aileen Smith, 71, in July to discuss her life with W. It is based on a book that Aileen Mioko Smith wrote with her then-husband, photojournalist W. The story of the mercury poisoning in the town of Minamata in Kumamoto, Japan, is a powerful one, now told through a movie starring Johnny Depp. Our hope is for readers to find new depths and perspectives to explore and enjoy. Each edition introduces one overarching thought that branches off to a wide variety of themes. Bookmark is a JAPAN Forward feature that gives you long reads for the weekend.
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