Hollywood actor Johnny Depp on Tuesday met with an emblematic sufferer of Minamata mercury-poisoning illness whereas visiting Tokyo after starring in a 2020 movie in regards to the air pollution case that devastated a city in southwestern Japan.
“I did not choose to get Minamata disease,” mentioned Shinobu Sakamoto, 69, who has a congenital type of the sickness. “I want the world to understand. The suffering has not ended.”
Depp responded by saying, “I would love to help in any way.”
The two conversed for about quarter-hour through an interpreter, with Depp expressing the will to go to Minamata in Kumamoto Prefecture after Sakamoto urged him to take action.
Sakamoto offered Depp with a photograph of herself together with her title inscribed, whereas Depp gave her a signed card saying, “With all my respect and love.”
In the movie “Minamata,” Depp portrayed the late American photographer Eugene Smith who documented the devastation of the city of the identical title. The movie was launched in Japan in 2021.
The assembly was organized by Smith’s former spouse Aileen Mioko Smith.
According to Aileen, the movie features a scene the place a girl confronts the president of the agency accountable for inflicting Minamata illness. This lady is modeled after Sakamoto’s mom, Fujie, who died in 2019.
Depp is in Japan for advance screenings of a brand new movie he has directed.
© KYODO