Hello everyone, voxanimus here. This week's One Piece was rather sui generis as far as One Piece chapters go, and I thought I'd write up a little blurb explaining, at least in part, the references and allusions Oda-sensei was making, some of which are not immediately apparent to non-Japanese audiences. (Of course, the real reason I'm writing this is that dino has done more than a few of these sort of things by now and I can't let myself be bested by the likes of him.)
 
First, though, I'd like to discuss the name of the "amber lead" substance introduced in the chapter. I was rather conflicted on how to translate this. The Japanese word used by Oda is 珀鉛, one that, as far as I know, does not exist anywhere else in Japanese literature. It is not a known Japanese word and has only really been used this one time in One Piece. The first kanji in the word means "amber," as in crystalline tree sap. The second kanji is a common one and means "lead," as in the poisonous heavy metal. The problem is that the kanji for "amber" contains the radical 白, which means white, an obvious nod to the actual whiteness of the substance. Translating 珀 into English as amber causes it to lose that nuance. Secondly, the pronunciation of 珀鉛 is hakuen (はくえん), which is actually a real Japanese word when written with different kanji (白煙) one that means "white smoke." Again, this is a reference to the whiteness of the substance and the whitening it causes in those poisoned by it. Ultimately, I was unable to find a word that could capture both the "amber" and the "white" nuances simultaneously and resorted to a literal translation, along with the resolution to explain the subtleties of the name separately.
 
Alright, let's move on to the actual content of the chapter. I—and, looking at the comments, several of our readers—was taken quite aback by the graphic, frankly gory content of this week's chapter. This is not the first time Oda-sensei has given a central character a tragic past but it is perhaps the first time he has done so so gruesomely.  His reasoning behind this grisly portrayal is, however, probably more understandable once one realizes the references underlying it.
 
Characters and entities in the world of One Piece are often purposefully juxtaposed against one another by Oda-sensei in an effort to critique or call to attention aspects of the real world. The Tenryuubito are a classic example of the ills of a class system and feudalism; the World Government is the archetypical example of a despotic military tyrant, etc. Despite the seemingly childish superficial appearance of the manga, One Piece is surprisingly mature in the themes and motifs it chooses to tackle. This week's chapter brought to light a similar theme, one I daresay is close to the heart of many Japanese.
 
First, a little historical background. Compared to the rest of the world, Japan's industrial revolution came very late and very rushed. The Tokugawa Shogunate, a feudal government complete with daimyo and shogun and samurai, continued uninterrupted from the early 1600s up until several years after the arrival of Commodore Perry's Black Ships in 1853. Japan only began its Industrial Revolution in 1870; most of the world's nations had finished theirs by 1820. Japanese conquests of Northern Asia including China and Russia in the early 1900s further increased the need for modern technology and the industrial infrastructure required to produce it. Japan was able to meet this demand, but at significant cost.
 
Pollution, particularly from mining operations, went virtually unchecked as the need for metal for the production of weaponry was paramount. Cadmium runoff from the mines contaminated nearby rivers, and water from the rivers was used to irrigate nearby rice fields. The rice absorbed the heavy metal and it began to accumulate in and poison the people that were eating it. Two of the most prominent symptoms of cadmium poisoning are calcium depletion, which causes softening of the bones—so much so that the entire body begins to hurt—and anemia, which causes paleness of the skin because of lack of blood. The pain all over the body was severe enough that cadmium poisoning was named "itai-itai byou" (イタイイタイ病) in Japanese, which literally translates to "ow-ow disease."
 
At this point this should all sound rather familiar. It's no coincidence that the genesis and symptoms of amber lead poisoning in One Piece pretty much exactly mirror those of the real-life cadmium poisoning that occurred in Japan in the early 20th century. I cannot be certain, but I would venture a fair guess that this historical incident was what Oda-sensei was referencing in this week's chapter. In fact, itai-itai disease is just one of the Four Big Pollution Diseases (四大公害病, yondai kougaibyou) that plagued Japan in the first half of the twentieth century as a result of mismanagement of toxic industrial waste. The first, itai-itai disease, predates the other three, which occurred in the late 50s and early 60s, by 40 or so years. Those interested in reading further should check out the Wikipedia article on the topic.
 
Well, that ended up being less of a blurb and more of an essay, so for those of you that have made it this far, I thank you for your patience. Feel free to ask any questions you may have on this issue or other things relating to One Piece and its translation in the comments, I'll be around to answer them. Also, if you liked this, and would be interested in reading more blog posts like it, do let me know.