In closing her testimony during court proceedings of a class-action lawsuit filed by relatives of leprosy patients, plaintiff Nobuko Harada told the Kumamoto District Court in a quivering voice, "All I want is an apology from the government while I am alive."
Harada, 74, is among 568 plaintiffs seeking damages over their claim that the government mistreated and discriminated against them after their relatives were diagnosed with leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease.
She recounted her struggle that started at age 7, when her father was diagnosed with the illness and sent to a national isolation rehabilitation facility in 1951.