The history of discrimination How to pass it down - the thoughts of former Hansen's disease patients - Yahoo! News

"Why did I have to stay here for 70 years?" Shinji Nakao, 83, a former patient at Nagashima Aiseien, a national Hansen's disease sanatorium in Okayama Prefecture, has doubts. Even though he had already recovered from his illness, he was forced to live in a sanatorium because he continued to face discrimination and prejudice due to the government's segregation policy. There are many other such people. What is the meaning of handing down the thoughts of residents and leprosy? Please watch the video first. (Mie Television Broadcasting / Yahoo! News Feature Editorial Department)

To an island in the Seto Inland Sea

About 1 hour by car from JR Okayama Station to the east. Nagashima (Setouchi City, Okayama Prefecture) is a long, narrow island that stretches 6 kilometers from east to west in the Seto Inland Sea. Nagashima Aiseien, located on this island, opened in 1930 as Japan's first national sanatorium for Hansen's disease. In 1988, the Oku Nagashima Ohashi Bridge was built from the mainland. Until then, it was a remote island and the only way to reach it was by boat. It was, in effect, an isolated island.

"I cried a lot, I was lonely anyway..."

Shinji Nakao looks back on the time he was detained. In 1948, he was 14 years old. Born in Nara Prefecture, Nakao was diagnosed with Hansen's disease at a hospital in Osaka, but it wasn't until he came to Aiseien that he learned the name of the disease.

"My mother didn't tell me the name of the disease. It must have been a 'difficult disease'."

Many of the residents headed for Okayama Station by train from all over the country. No other passengers ride in the same carriage, and many residents sarcastically refer to this train as the "Omoshi train." Move to the opposite shore of the island by truck, etc., and cross to the island by boat. The landing pier was divided into one for patients and one for staff.

"I thought that I was really entering a sanatorium when I got off the containment pier. I parted with the people I was with until then. Pier, I'm on the containment pier.

In the park, the living areas of the staff and residents were strictly separated. When you enter the facility, you first enter the "detention center (Kaishunryo)" and undergo inspections and admission procedures. Cash was taken away, bathing in a disinfectant bath, and personal belongings disinfected. The garden's pamphlet states, "In this building, there are many people who are conscious of isolation from society."

Hansen's disease was once called "leprosy," "incurable disease," "tenkeibyo," and "gobyo," etc., and because of the aftereffects that remain on the face, limbs, etc., prejudice and discrimination has become the target of Currently, treatment methods have been established, and in recent years there have been almost no new patients in Japan.

Although the law stipulating segregation was abolished in 1996, 1,468 people live in 13 national sanatoria for Hansen's disease nationwide (as of May 2017/Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare survey). Aiseien currently houses 165 former patients.

Human Rights Left Behind

Human rights violations were commonplace in sanatoriums across the country.

I was not allowed to carry cash, and was given "money" called "enkin" that could only be used within the park.

Inmates who violated the rules of the park were sent to a cell. This is because the director of the sanatorium was given the right of disciplinary action by law.

According to Tomohisa Tamura, a curator at Aiseien, the most common reason for being put in a cell was "escape." In other words, it was the “sin” of running away from the island.

"There was a diet regulation (= reduced diet) for one week to 10 days if you escaped. Many people fled after factoring in that. There was no trial. It was a very dangerous building.”

The biggest violation of human rights is sterilization and abortion. If I had leprosy, I would not have been able to have children. Inmates were allowed to marry, but they were deprived of the right to have offspring.

Mr. Tamura says, "I think there was an idea about who would take care of the children of patients who were being treated at national expense."

National sanatorium residents were given various roles as ``patient work''.

In addition to medical assistants and ward nursing, vegetable harvesting, cattle and pig breeding, civil engineering, charcoal burning, printing, hairdressing, teachers, cremation... Without the work of the residents, the sanatorium would not have been possible.

History of the Quarantine Policy

Mr. Tamura tells visitors to Aiseien.

"What the general public misunderstands is that when they see crooked hands, fingers, deformed faces, etc., they say, 'It's leprosy, leprosy,' but that's not the disease. It's just an aftereffect."

Why have human rights violations been carried out for many years? The background is the country's isolation policy.

In 1907, the "Leprosy Prevention Matter" was enacted, and a segregation policy began without any medical basis. The Leprosy Prevention Law of 1931 (the old law) made all patients eligible for detention. National sanatoria were established in various places. The leprosy prevention law (new law) enacted after the war continued the segregation policy, which was finally abolished in 1996.

In 1998, a resident sued the Kumamoto District Court, claiming that the long-term isolation policy was unconstitutional. Lawsuits continued across the country. In 2001, the Kumamoto District Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. The ruling ruled that there had been no need for isolation since at least 1960, when treatment methods were established, and that "the leprosy prevention law, which excessively restricted human rights, is clearly unconstitutional." He acknowledged the minister's responsibility and ordered the payment of alimony.

It was also noted that he acknowledged the inaction of Diet members who neglected the quarantine regulations. The government gave up on the appeal due to an unusual political decision. The Law Concerning the Promotion of Resolving the Problem of Hansen's Disease, which was enacted in 2009, includes the restoration of honor and livelihood security for former patients, as well as the opening of sanatorium facilities and land to the local community.

"Mopped after walking"

A long history of discrimination and prejudice. Even at Aiseien, the number of staff who do not know the details of the segregation policy has increased. In February this year, a training session was held for the first time to give the staff accurate knowledge, and Mr. Nakao, a former patient who serves as the president of the self-governing body, talked about his experience of discrimination.

About 10 years ago, when I went out from Aiseien to downtown Setouchi and was looking for a book at a bookstore.

"A child I didn't know came up to me and said, 'I want you to look for a book with me.' I left."

Mr. Nakao says that the awareness of discrimination remains deep-rooted. “I once got mopped after walking in the supermarket. I can read it now.”

Such testimony is heard not only from Mr. Nakao but also from many former patients.

"When I went into a restaurant and ordered rice and coffee, the shop was suddenly closed."

Shoshichi Yamaguchi (pseudonym, 82) said that when she first entered the sanatorium, her mother occasionally visited her. However, the brothers have not heard from each other for more than 30 years and do not know what is going on. "If you look at how they hide me, I guess there is still [discrimination]," he said.

Residents staying positive

Residents are spending their days calmly and positively.

There are many residents who devote themselves to hobbies and recreation. In the past, sports such as baseball, table tennis, and gateball. Now that he's older, he enjoys karaoke, pottery, painting, shogi, and more.

Mitsuhiko Inoue, a resident of the nursery school, has been taking pictures in the garden for about 40 years. He has captured the scenery of the park in each season, the opening of the Oku Nagashima Ohashi Bridge, and the visit of the Emperor and Empress to Nagashima (2005).

They were scenes that only people living on the island could capture.

The meaning of continuing to convey

The average age of people living in national sanatoria for Hansen's disease has exceeded 85 years old. Mr. Nakao intends to convey the history of Hansen's disease to the best of his ability, but he has some concerns.

“We have 5 or 6 storytellers (at Aiseien).

And then it goes on like this.

"For example, storytellers of the atomic bombing and Minamata disease are handed down by the second and third generation. However, in the case of Hansen's disease, they were not allowed to leave descendants... In other words, handing down the story. I don't have anyone who can help me, so I always tell the students and children (who come to visit) that I want you to study and pass on the story."

When Mr. Tamura, a curator, guides the visitors, there is one last thing to say.

"In the future, please don't create people who suffer from similar discrimination... Unfortunately, prejudice is not limited to Hansen's disease. In order to create a society in which human rights are respected, it is important to first gain a correct understanding.”

"It doesn't matter if it turns into bones"

In the northern part of the island, there is an ossuary. All Hansen's disease sanatoria across the country have a charnel house.

When a resident died, Tamura explains, "They didn't move forward with collecting the remains (by the family) because they were worried about how people would look at them." Even now, the remains of those who cannot return to their hometowns sleep there.

The late Akio Nakayama, a resident of Oku Komyoen, a national Hansen's disease sanatorium adjacent to Aiseien, left the following line.

It's okay, even if it turns into bones, it's okay

Now, there is not a single Hansen's disease "patient" in Hansen's disease sanatoriums across the country. In the past, a resident I met while interviewing Aiseien had this to say. A deceased couple from Mie Prefecture, who once hid and returned to their hometowns, said, "If the law had been abolished a little earlier, we would have managed somehow... It was too late." Also, a deceased man who was also from Mie Prefecture and traveled to give lectures calling for the elimination of prejudice asserted that "discrimination is something only humans do."

How can we pass down the history of discrimination so that ignorance and prejudice do not ruin our once-in-a-lifetime lives? In January 2018, people involved in three gardens in the Seto Inland Sea, including Nagashima Aiseien, which still has facilities from the early days of its opening, formed the NPO " The Council for the Promotion of the Registration of Hansen's Disease Sanatorium as a World Heritage Site" was launched.

Mr. Mr. Nakao speaks forcefully.

"We have faced such discrimination for more than 100 years. I want our history to remain intact as an island of human rights learning.In the background of the internment, the public and private sectors are united. There was a leprosy-free prefecture movement that became a leprosy-free prefecture, and there was an “aburidashi” by the citizens.

[Same video as in the text]

This article is a joint coverage project by Mie TV Broadcasting and the Yahoo! News special editorial department. Mie Television Broadcasting is an independent television station established in 1969. Broadcasting a large number of self-produced programs covering the entire Mie prefecture and part of Aichi prefecture. Official site here.

[Interview/Editing] Hideyuki Ogawa (Mie Television Broadcasting) Yahoo! News Feature Editorial Department