Nagashima Aiseien Sanatorium

In 1927, members of Japan's Lower House presented a bill stating that the present prefectural leprosy sanatoriums were insufficient and that the government needed to establish national sanatoriums. When the bill was passed, it was decided that the first national sanatorium would be built on an island, following the recommendations of leprologist and director of the Tokyo's Tama Zenshoen Sanatorium Kensuke Mitsuda.

Kensuke Mitsuda was so zealous about eliminating leprosy that he admitted more patients than the sanatorium could reasonably accommodate. In July 1936, the number of patients admitted was 1,163 while its real capacity was 890. Because of the overcrowding, its food and housing conditions deteriorated.

On August 10, 1936, four patients were caught trying to escape the sanitorium. This led to an atmosphere of unrest, and on August 13, Mitsuda called a meeting of the patients and warned them against misconduct. Dining hour was thus delayed, and in the middle of the night, patients gathered and got excited; demonstrations took place, with some people refusing to do their assigned work. The unrest had to be controlled by special policemen, and some patients were used to spy on other patients.

After 10 days of heated negotiations with officials from the Interior Ministry, the Police Department of Okayama Prefecture, the Special Police Section and Mitsuda, the patients were permitted to form Jichikai (a patients' association), a kind of self-governing organization. Patients later divided into pro-Mitsuda and anti-Mitsuda factions.

On May 9, 1988, the mainland and the islands of Nagashima Aiseien and Oku Komyoen were joined upon completion of the Oku-Nagashima-Ohashi Bridge. The bridge was planned and built not by the Ministry of Construction but by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. There are records that show that patients had been advocating for a bridge since 1968, presumably after they realised that improvements in bridge construction and engineering such as the Five Bridges of Amakusa in 1966, made such bridges possible.[1] Lobbying was restarted in 1972, and the Oku-Nagashima-Ohashi Bridge was completed in 1988.

• November 20, 1930: Several buildings were completed, and the National Leprosarium was founded. The first director was Kensuke Mitsuda.
• March 3, 1931: The National Leprosarium Nagashima Aiseien was given its name by the Interior Ministry.
• March 27, 1931: 85 patients arrived from Tama Zenshoen Sanatorium, Tokyo.
• December 23, 1931: 10-tsubo (33-square-meter) houses were built with donated money.
• January 10, 1938: The ministry responsible changed from the Interior Ministry to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
• May 5, 1944: An elementary school was established on its grounds.
• November 1, 1946: The facility was renamed the National Sanatorium Nagashima Aiseien.
• September 16, 1955: Niirada High School was established within the sanatorium, with students arriving from other leprosy sanatoriums.
• March 3, 1987: The high school was closed. (369 students had enrolled, and 307 students had graduated.)
• May 9, 1988: The Oku-Nagashima-Ohashi Bridge was completed.
• November 1, 1989: A bus service from Okayama to the sanatorium started its runs.
• April 1996: The 1953 Leprosy Prevention Law was abolished.
• July 1998: The trial for compensation of former residents started.
• May 11, 2001: The trial ruled that detaining patients under the previous law was unconstitutional.
• May 25, 2001: The trial was confirmed. The compensation of ¥8 million to ¥14 million yen was given to each patient depending on the duration of their stay.