- In about 1907, the Japanese government put into effect a policy to segregate all the people affected by Hansen’s disease into national and public Hansen’s disease sanatoria.
- In the beginning, public sanatoria were to confine those who were left without homes and were wandering in the streets.
- The reason for confining people affected by Hansen’s disease was to prevent the spread of the disease, although in reality it is not easily transmitted.As time passed, the belief that the disease was thought to be highly contagious caused a revision of policy, segregating all people affected by Hansen’s disease.
- Another reason was that the government felt it a disgrace if foreigners visiting Japan saw people affected by Hansen’s disease wandering the streets.
- They must have known how the patients would have felt if they were locked up in Hansen’s disease sanatoriums.
