ILEA001085304: Gov't, leprosy patients sign basic redress accord

Japan gov't starts consultation service for Unification Church woes

The government started Monday a telephone consultation service for people experiencing trouble with the Unification Church, a religious group that has stirred controversy since former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was killed over alleged links to the group in July. Officials from government offices, including the Justice Ministry and the police and consumer affairs agencies, have gathered in Tokyo to offer the service. They will mainly introduce professional consultation entities including those offering legal help to resolve troubles with the group. The service is set to run through Sept. 30. As troubles related to the Unification Church are expected to be widespread, the government has also assigned officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to the consultation service. The consultation window is open on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Talks focus on gov't responsibility for hepatitis C outbreak

TOKYO, Japan - Former Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Jiro Kawasaki, leader of a ruling coalition project team, talks to reporters in Tokyo on Dec. 27 after a meeting with lawyers representing people infected with hepatitis C via tainted blood products aimed at working out a bill to offer them blanket government relief. The talks focused on how the bill will mention the state's responsibility for the suffering of the hepatitis patients, participants said.

19 plaintiffs recognized as A-bomb radiation disease sufferers

KUMAMOTO, Japan - The plaintiffs and their supporters celebrate outside the Kumamoto District Court on July 30 after the court repealed most of the state decision not to recognize 21 people in Kumamoto Prefecture who suffered in the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as radiation casualties. The court recognized 19 of 21 plaintiffs as radiation disease sufferers. Of 250,000 people certified under Japanese law as atomic bomb victims as of March 31, only 2,242 have been recognized as suffering from illnesses caused by radiation from the atomic bombings, according to Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry data.

Gov't again ordered to pay damages over hepatitis C virus infection

TOKYO, Japan - Plaintiffs and their supporters express their joy on March 23 after the Tokyo District Court joined two other district courts in ordering the government to pay damages to people infected with the hepatitis C virus after being treated with tainted blood products. Presiding Judge Atsuo Nagano, acting on a 1,353 million yen damages suit, ordered the state and three drugmakers to pay a total of 259 million yen to 13 out of the 21 plaintiffs.

Gov't to appeal ruling on damages for Taiwanese leprosy sufferers

TOKYO, Japan - Health minister Jiro Kawasaki speaks at a press conference at his office on Nov. 8 on a government decision to appeal a district court ruling that ordered the state to pay damages to a group of Taiwanese leprosy sufferers who had been segregated at a leprosarium during Japanese colonial rule. He said his ministry will ''swiftly consider about how to provide compensation for those who were at the leprosarium, apart from the trials.''

Korean ex-leprosy patients seek redress for quarantine

KUMAMOTO, Japan - Lawyer Naoko Kunimune (2nd from R) hands applications with a health and welfare ministry official on behalf of 28 former leprosy patients in South Korea for compensation for being forcibly put in sanitariums when Korea was under the Japanese colonial rule.

State, CJD plaintiffs sign settlement

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi (L) shakes hands with representatives of plaintiffs who sued the state and companies for failing to ensure the safety of human dura mater transplants at the ministry in Tokyo on March 25 after singing a settlement. Patients represented developed the fatal brain disorder Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease following transplant operations.

Former leprosy patients demand meeting with premier

TOKYO, Japan - Former leprosy patients and their lawyers gather in front of the main gate of the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo on May 21 to demand a meeting with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. They asked the premier's secretary, Isao Iijima (L), for a meeting to urge Koizumi not to appeal against a Kumamoto District Court ruling ordering the state to pay compensation to former leprosy patients.

900 ex-leprosy patients file another suit against state

KUMAMOTO, Japan - Former leprosy patients and their supporters hold a rally in front of the Kumamoto District Court building on May 21 before filing a lawsuit with the court against the state. About 900 former leprosy patients across the nation are filing the suit against the state, demanding 115 million yen each in compensation for being forced into isolation to undergo treatment for the disease. The suit brings the number of plaintiffs suing the state at district courts in Kumamoto, Okayama and Tokyo in connection with the case to about 1,700.

Leprosy patients urge gov't not to appeal ruling

TOKYO, Japan - A representative (R) of leprosy patients suing the state for forcing them into isolation during treatment delivers a note to Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama on May 17, asking the Justice Ministry not to appeal a district court ruling May 11 that ordered the state to pay compensation.

Gov't, leprosy patients sign basic redress accord

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