The Shadows of Nagashima: Japan's Unfinished Business with Leprosy Nagashima, a small island off Japan's coast, has long been shrouded in shame and secrecy.
Known as "leprosy island," it was the site where Japanese authorities forcibly confined thousands of leprosy patients between the 1930s and 1996, often without diagnosis or treatment.
The government's response to leprosy was marked by fear, ignorance, and xenophobia. Patients were stigmatized and isolated on Nagashima and other islands, subjected to inhumane living conditions.