Mikio Suzuki - Remembering Lives Lived Wholeheartedly - Okinawa Airakuen 1975

Airakuen was a sanatorium for leprosy patients near the city of Nago in Okinawa. Mikio Suzuki visited the facility in 1975 to document the daily life of the people there. That same year, the Leprosy Prevention Law necessitated that leprosy patients were hospitalised and isolated from the rest of society. Societal prejudice and repression made it almost impossible for them to appear in any media at all. Extensively and with clarity, Suzuki's photographs capture the Airakuen, the work of the doctors and nurses, and the life of the many patients. In his diary, translated in the book, Suzuki recounts how his interactions with patients during his time at Airakuen shifted his own attitude.