(Japanese translation follows English, 日本語訳は英文の後に続きます。)
Exhibition Reception & Talk Show by Kuwabara Shisei
Date: Thursday, March 5, 2026 6.30-8.30pm (doors open 6.00pm)
Entry Fee: Members/ Journalist 1,000 yen, Non-members 2000 yen (one drink incl)
Advance reservations recommended. Call 03-3211-3163 front@fccj.or.jp or online reservation.
Cancellations less than 48 hours in advance will be charged in full.
The Minamata disaster was a severe, long-term environmental poisoning event in Minamata, that was first recognized in 1956, caused by the Chisso Corporation’s chemical factory releasing methylmercury into Minamata Bay from as early as 1950. The mercury bioaccumulated in seafood, causing over 3,000 human cases of severe neurological damage, congenital disabilities, and death. It became known as "dancing cat fever" due to unusual behavior in cats, and deformities in fish, before being recognized as a human neurological disease.
Kuwabara started reporting on Minamata in early 1960 and published his works in a solo exhibition in 1962 that won him the newcomer’s award of the Japan Photo Critics Association. American photographer Eugene Smith gained worldwide attention in 1975 when his photographs, MINAMATA, were published in LIFE magazine. However, it is reported that Kuwabara, who had photographed the area earlier, had made a significant impact on Smith.
Recognised for over 50 years of Minamata coverage, Kuwabara received the Domon Ken Award in 2014. Over the years, he has also documented the South Korean democratization movement, life in North Korea, the Vietnam War, and the collapse of the Soviet Union. While Kuwabara's work will be exhibited in the Eugene Smith exhibition at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum this spring, the FCCJ will display various works by Kuwabara – who celebrates his 90th birthday this autumn – focusing on Minamata, South Korea, and North Korea, ahead of that exhibition.
Peter Lyon - Chair, Exhibition Committee
展示会レセプション ＆桑原 史成による トークショー
3月5日（木）午後6:30 - 8:30（開場6:00）開演6:30pm
参加費: 会員1,000円、取材目的のメディア 1,000円、非会員 2,000円 (ワンドリンク付き)
御予約は 03-3211-3161 front@fccj.or.jp またはオンライン予約でお願いいたします。
なおイベント開催日48時間以内のキャンセルは、全額請求となりますのでご了承下さい。
1950年代、熊本県の水俣湾周辺では、戦後日本の中核企業であったチッソ社の水俣工場が海に排出したメチル水銀が原因で、中枢神経がおかされる中毒性神経疾患を発症する人が増え、1956年 5月に52人の患者が初めて水俣病として確認されました。認定患者だけで3000人、補償対象者は 7万人と言われます。
桑原は1960年に、いち早く水俣に入り取材を開始し、作品を発表。アメリカの写真家・ユージン・スミスは1975年に写真・MINAMATAをLIFE誌に発表して世界で一躍注目を受けましたが、そのスミスにインパクトを与えたのが、先に撮影していた桑原と言われています。
50年を超える水俣取材が評価され、桑原は土門拳賞を受賞。他にも韓国民主化運動、ベトナム戦争、ロシアなどを記録してきました。今春からの東京写真美術館でのユージン・スミス展でも、桑原の作品が展示されますが、FCCJではそれに先立ち、今秋卒寿を迎える桑原 史成の、水俣・韓国・北朝鮮を追った作品を集めました。
Peter Lyon - Chair, Exhibition Committee