The museum is just okay. Lots of history of the fight for people with the disease to be treated with dignity in Japan and worldwide. Some sobering stories and unpleasant artifacts like artificial limbs. Limited English, but the museum encourages translation apps and provided free wi-fi. It was hard to know which areas and displays allowed picture taking. I the end, I took very few. The museum building is big but the space is not overly full.

Fascinating artwork, harrowing history. It's an education to visit and read about leprosy victims, the colony , the community, their humanity. The staff were friendly and very helpful as well.

I visited in November R7. There's a bus stop in front of the building, which is convenient. Admission to the museum is free, but you answer a simple survey-type thing on a touch panel. There are also free coin lockers on the first floor, so I left my bags there and could take my time looking around. Hansen's disease... I vaguely knew what kind of disease it was, but visiting here I was able to learn anew about its history, the reality, the discrimination, and the human rights issues. The section on the forced isolation policy in particular really hit me, to the point that I teared up... Even though medicine wasn't advanced back then, there was forced isolation, people were sent to sanatoriums even against their will, and lived lives of discrimination. And on top of that, this "Leprosy Prevention Law" was only abolished in 1996, which isn't that long ago. I think many people, like me, have heard the term "Hansen's disease," but I hope you'll visit here at least once and learn what actually happened. The area around the museum is full of nature that you can explore freely. Partly because I took my time looking around before heading home, I stayed about an hour and a half.

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From Showa 6, forced admission to sanatoriums began. In Showa 21, a drug called Promin began to be used as a specific remedy, but the patient isolation policy continued. In Heisei 8, the Leprosy Prevention Law was abolished. In Reiwa 1, a law was enacted on paying compensation to the families of former Hansen's disease patients. For a long time, patients and their families were isolated and discriminated against, and their dignity was severely and deeply hurt. Please do visit the museum.

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A facility where you can learn about Hansen's disease. It's nice that it's a clean facility and free. Parking is free too. There's also a library with a collection of books centered on Hansen's disease.

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