- In Japan it was the Christian and Buddhist missionaries who first looked after the people affected by Hansen’s disease.
- About 130 years ago Christian missionaries and Buddhist monks raised money to build facilities to accommodate people affected by Hansen’s disease.
- There, patients who were forsaken and without homes were nursed and fed.
- The early Christian and Buddhist facilities were not built to force the patients into isolation.The missionaries wished to reach out, to provide help to people in need.
