Aileen Mioko Smith

Text & Interview: Ian Priestley
Koe Magazine
September 2009

Aileen Mioko Smith first became involved in environmental pollution issues in the early seventies when she and her husband at that time, the late American photojournalist William Eugene Smith, photographed the victims of mercury poisoning in Minamata, Kyushu. The Minamata pictures now serve as a record of what can happen when considerations of safety take second place to demands of the economy.

Since that time, Mioko Smith has moved from journalism to activism. Her focus, however, remains the same as it was back then: environmental pollution. She is now executive director of the NGO Green Action, a group which is trying to raise awareness of the dangers of Japan’s nuclear energy program.

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