Category: Podcast

Kikuo Kojima, 83, of Sapporo was put up for adoption soon after his birth. He contracted polio, leaving him with a disabled right leg for which he was bullied. At age 19, when he was leading a desolate life, he was forced to undergo sterilization.

Kojima was handcuffed by a police officer in front of his home and put into a psychiatric hospital in Sapporo. It was one-sidedly determined that he was mentally ill, and when he was sterilized, a nurse told him that this had to be done “since it would be terrible if people like you had children.”

In front of more than 130 plaintiffs, lawyers and supporters, Kishida said, “It is with deep regret that at least 25,000 people have suffered the grave harm of being sterilized,” under the eugenics law, which was in effect between 1948 and 1996.

Japan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday awarded damages to victims of forced sterilizations conducted under the now-defunct eugenic protection law. 

Handing down a unified ruling on five related damages suits, the top court’s Grand Bench, presided over by Chief Justice Saburo Tokura, decided not to apply the 20-year statute of limitations for damages claims, a focal point of the case. It effectively handed total victory to the plaintiffs.