SNAPSHOT: Permanent preservation of leprosy sanatoriums requested

SNAPSHOT: Permanent preservation of leprosy sanatoriums requested

Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki addresses a commemorative ceremony in Tokyo on June 22, 2015, for deceased leprosy patients who suffered discrimination and prejudice during their lifetimes. The ceremony is held every year around June 22, when a compensation act for former leprosy patients came into force in 2001. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

SNAPSHOT: Permanent preservation of leprosy sanatoriums requested

SNAPSHOT: Permanent preservation of leprosy sanatoriums requested

Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki lays flowers at the cenotaph at his ministry in Tokyo on June 22, 2015, during a commemorative ceremony in Tokyo on June 22, 2015, for deceased leprosy patients who suffered discrimination and prejudice during their lifetimes. The ceremony is held every year around June 22, when a compensation act for former leprosy patients came into force in 2001. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

SNAPSHOT: Permanent preservation of leprosy sanatoriums requested

SNAPSHOT: Permanent preservation of leprosy sanatoriums requested

Yasushi Shimura, a former leprosy patient, attends a commemorative ceremony in Tokyo on June 22, 2015, for deceased leprosy patients who suffered discrimination and prejudice during their lifetimes. The ceremony is held every year around June 22, when a compensation act for former leprosy patients came into force in 2001. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

SNAPSHOT: Permanent preservation of leprosy sanatoriums requested

SNAPSHOT: Permanent preservation of leprosy sanatoriums requested

Kazuo Mori, leader of former leprosy patients living in sanatoriums, attends a commemorative ceremony in Tokyo on June 22, 2015, for deceased leprosy patients. He called for the government to keep the sanatoriums as permanent memorial sites to hand down memories of the state's quarantine policy for leprosy patients. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Photo exhibition on the lives of Hansen's disease patients

Photo exhibition on the lives of Hansen's disease patients

Visitors look at photos on the lives of Hansen's disease patients exhibited at the National Hansen's Disease Museum in Higashimurayama, Tokyo, on March 27, 2015. The photos were taken by the late photographer Cho Gun Jae between the 1960s and the 1980s at Hansen's disease sanatoriums across Japan. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo