Former leprosy patients urged the state on Thursday to step up efforts to restore their honor and that of deceased sufferers as they attended a government-sponsored ceremony remembering those subjected to years of discrimination in Japan.
From the Supreme Court, Secretary-General Yukihiko Imasaki attended the annual event for the first time, following the top court's apology in April to former Hansen's disease patients who were for years tried at segregated facilities.
The apology came exactly 20 years after the country abolished the 1931 law that allowed the segregation of patients with the mildly contagious disease. The segregation of leprosy patients at sanatoriums continued to be state policy until 1996.