And all because of a bunch of anaerobic bacteria living in the Minamata bay.

这一切都是因为生活在水俣湾的一群厌氧菌。

But it'll be a long time before people start thinking of Minamata as a perfect paradise again.

但是人们还需要很长时间才能再次觉得水俣是完美的天堂。

And the Chisso Corporation in Minamata was dumping similarly toxic kinds of mercury into the water.

水俣市的奇索公司也向水中倾倒类似的有毒汞。

Around 1956, the human residents of Minamata started experiencing the same symptoms.

大约在 1956 年，水俣的人类居民开始出现同样的症状。

And, of course, the biggest source of food for the cats of Minamata was fish.

当然，水俣猫最大的食物来源是鱼。

Japan has a history of this terrible Minamata tragedy...

日本曾有过可怕的水俣悲剧。

And unfortunately for the unsuspecting residents of Minamata, the Chisso Corporation decided to use mercury and then dump the leftovers from the reaction into the bay.

不幸的是，对于水俣市那些毫无戒心的居民来说，智索公司决定使用水银，然后将反应的产物倒入海湾。

Doctors and researchers launched an investigation into what they started calling Minamata Disease, and by 1959, they had found the cause: methylmercury poisoning from fish.

医生和研究人员对他们开始称之为水俣病的疾病展开了调查，到 1959 年，他们已经找到了原因：来自鱼类的甲基汞中毒。

When the bacteria came into contact with the extra inorganic mercury at Minamata, they transformed it into the most poisonous form of the metal: methylmercury, which is a carbon attached to a mercury with a single positive charge.

当细菌在水俣接触到多余的无机汞时，它们将其转化为最毒的金属形式：甲基汞，这是一种附着在汞上的碳，带有一个正电荷。