For the past 60 years, 76-year-old Koji Suzuki's life has been contained within a sanitarium for sufferers of leprosy in Kusatsu, Gunma Prefecture.

Born in Akita Prefecture in 1923, he began suffering symptoms of leprosy, also known as Hansen's Disease, at age 14. Two years later, he was admitted to the sanitarium, Kuryu Rakusen-en.

"A doctor said I would just receive treatment for my initial symptom of numbness in my hands, and I could immediately leave the facility after that," he said. "At the time, I did not imagine in the least that I would spend the rest of my life here."