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Airakuen was a sanatorium for leprosy patients near the city of Nago in the northern part of Okinawa. In 1975, exactly fifty years ago, Mikio Suzuki visited the facility to document the daily life of patients and staff. In 1975, the Leprosy Prevention Law necessitated that leprosy were hospitalized and isolated from the rest of society. Societal prejudice and repression made it almost impossible for leprosy patients to appear in any media at all.
Composed of Suzuki’s photographs, “Remembering Lives Lived Wholeheartedly” captures the Airakuen, the work of the doctors and nurses, and the life of the patients extensively and with clarity. The process was not straightforward, however: in his diary (included in the back of the book in English translation), Suzuki points out that he only photographed residents of the facility from a distance and from behind at first. It was only after two patients addressed him directly, asking him to photograph their faces, too, that Suzuki’s attitude shifted.
In the foreword, Kyoko Kosoko (chairperson of the Okinawa Airakuen Residents’ Association) writes that the publication of “Remembering Lives Lived Wholeheartedly” will “serve to console each of the souls of our predecessors who passed away without knowing of the abolition of the Leprosy Prevention Law in 1996 […]”. It is also a historical document that captured the remarkable resilience and countenance of residents who were forced to live their life in isolation.
