The rockss

So foggy!>:

photoo(: We then head down the mountain and head to Kumamoto Castle and IT WAS BEAUTIFULLL:D . The place gave the idea of a palace (like the one in the Qing Dynasty, Han Dynasty, so on and so forth). The infrastructure has a building of seven storeys. Enough of the words, let the pictures do the talking.

THANK YOU!<3

A sick patient on one of the newspapers

the Minamata Bay

A few years back when they put up the net to prevent the contaminated fish  with the non-contaminated fish. We also went to the Minamata Eco Park, where it used to be the polluted Minamata Bay. It was said that the reclaimed land of Minamata Bay is buried with many barrels of dead fish which are contaminated by the Methyl Mercury. There are also lots of small little statues about 50 or so facing the Sea, this little Statues are either made by the Victims of the Minamata Disease or their supporters.  This little Statues are to remind people about the Minamata Disease and also to remind us not to do it again

Beautiful scenery(:

THE CLEAR SEA:D

 We then went to Hotto House. We saw with our own eyes the victims of the Minamata Disease. We didn’t know that the Minamata Disease could have a huge impact on their lives. We even heard their stories of what happened to them when they were young. Its quite sad to hear about their past and after hearing their stories, I feel very sympathetic  towards the few. As I known through their stories that they are very driven people, as when they were young and not thoroughly affected by the disease they were very hardworking and wanted to help their communities. But I’m also very proud of their achievements as even though they’re living with such a disease, they did not let it affect their daily life. And are trying hard to give back to their communities as best as possible for them .      

The victims of the Minamata Disease.

Victims again,

A photo with one of the victims, he is a very cheerful guy though!(: We then headed towards Gogasake, for our over-night farm stay in the country-side. We arrived at   our respective host families traditional Japanese houses as we were split up into groups and all in all it was a wonderful night with and awesome dinner. Even though it was seriously cold in the night, we were introduced to heavenly heated blankets- a heater’s hot air goes through the tube and under the blankets thus heated blankets :b - that kept us warm while eating our scrumptious  dinner , some of us got to learn to make moochi ( accepted that it did not look nice, but at least it tasted good. :B) Some groups also got to try on the Kimono!(: Shall put up the pictures soon about the Kimonos!(:

The first and second day have come to the end, as usual of a school trip, there will be reflections for us to write as we reflect what we have learned throughout the first two days! After the respective reflections, we will show you the pictures th at we had taken during the first 2 days, ^^. Aren't you guys excited? PICTURES!! NO words, other than the reflections (maybe there will  be captions of the pictures, :P.) Yesterday and today, we had visisted the RoboSquare, Fukuoka City Disaster Prevention Center and the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. Our reflections will be revolving around the above three points.


Regina: Well, I've had a fruitful day today as I have learned a lifeskill that cannot be experienced in Singapore, at the Fukuoka City Disaster Prevention Center. This is because Singapore is a country where it is protected by its neighbours - Malaysia and Indonesia; they are the pillars of the prevention of the natural disaster that will attack Singapore. However, I personally feel that we, Singaporeans, shouldn't be complacent as what if one day, our neighbours aren't there to protect us? Or the natural disaster is so great that it will hit Singapore? We will in fact be vulnerable to such disasters as we had no experience; we merely know the theory but the question is, do we know how to apply it? I don't reckon so. If Singapore is being hit, it will cease to exist. As for the rest, they are overwhelmezed with helpful information, specially the visit to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. It helped me to link my physics concept to applications of daily life. In summary, the first days were awesome! :D


Naomi: Today we went to alot of places. Firstly, Fukuoka City Disaster City Prevention Center. We tried the earthquake, wind and fire stimulus. Trying this three stimulus was very memorable because we are unable to experience such things in Singapore and we are able to learn an extra skills when we facing such danger, be it Singapore or other country. Secondly, we went to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb useum. This help us understand the effects of the atomic bomb such deformities and cancer. Also we are able to learn that peace is very important in the world so that world war will not happen again. Finally, it helps us to get a visual understanding of the impact of the atomic bomb on the people and learn that we could solve problems using other method(S) instead of using harmful method(S).We also went to the Robo Square which helps us to learn more hands-on physics knowledge. We were so lucky that we are able to watch the robort show. During the robort show we were able to watch a new robort which  is a sumari. It was doing many high-tech movements which are very impressive. We are also be able to learn what are the equipments use to make the robot and the how it could improve our lives.                                              
THIS WOULD BE A MORE DETAILED SUMMARY  ON THE BIOACCUMALATION :D

• As you can see in the picture, methylmercury then enters the food chain when it is absorbed by plankton species 

• plankton are eaten by its consumers, which then are eaten by larger and larger fish. 

• Methylmercury accumulates in the tissues of fish and shellfish via a process called biomagnification, through which methylmercury concentration increases as it moves up from one ''level'' to the next.

• Thus, smaller fish that are lower down in the food chain have lower concentrations of mercury in their tissues while larger fish that are higher up in the food chain have higher concentrations. 

• For example, sardines contain about 0.01 ''unit'' of mercury while sharks contain from 1''unit'' to as much as 4 ''units''.  

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS :
       PICTURE TAKEN FROM GOOGLE Below were the events that happened in 1971 in Minamata Bay, a coastal town in Japan.


1. A plastic factory (Chisso cooperation) had discharged waste water containing methyl-mercury into the bay near some villages.
2. Methyl mercury was absorbed by water weeds.
3. Water weeds were eaten by the fishes at the minamata bay and shiranui sea.
4. Fish and shellfish caught in the bay and sea contain high concentration of methyl mercury.
5. The fishes or shellfishes contained methyl mercury were being eaten by the local villages. After that some dead of methyl mercury poisoning and some were either blinded or paralysed.




Something more....
Why did the number of people getting the minamata disease increase?




It is because......
- certain chemicals are not excreted from body instead it accumulated.
- Therefore, as the chemicals are passed along the food chain, it becomes more concentrated in the bodies of the final consumer(s).
- This is called bioaccumulation .

HEY! We know U GUYS (OUR AWESOME READERS) dread to read long posts. Hence, this post will be filled with pictures that we have gotten from the Internet! Bear with the pictures that are from the Internet kay :), do understand that this is what had happened to people who were involved in the mercury poisoning, and do cherish yourself that didn't happen to us in Singapore. I assure you people with freshly taken ones when the authors are in japan; we'll be uploading during the trip, so stay-tuned to this blog!


Note to you readers: PLEASE do not be grossed out by the photos, they may seem revolting but, c'mon, look at them at another perspective, they will teach us to not take things for granted, instead, we'll feel fortunate and lucky to have a set of well-developed limbs.

An exemplification of a mother's love which is the greatest love of all

These are some of the victims that suffered from the mercury poisoning

Another victim of the poisoning. Due to the mercury present in his body, certain parts of the body which have taints of mercury have been adversely deformed.

I guess this picture is trying to show that the mercury poisoning has affected the livelihood of the fishermen drastically for half a century.

Acknowledgements: Google images
Okay, that's all folks. The above pictures are the best that I could find.. :( However, we will try, to the best of our ability, to take beautiful pictures for all of you! :D. Stay tuned .