Compulsory Sterilization in Japan: Censorship Casts Doubt on Landmark Report

An individual sits on a hospital gurney with their back to the viewer, looking out two bright windows.
For many decades, Japan had an inhumane forced sterilization law on the books. A new report reveals that much information on the infamous program remains redacted.

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Children as young as 9 were sterilized under Japan’s former Eugenic Protection Law (1948-1996) which targeted approximately 25,000 people with disabilities, 66% of whom did not consent to the surgery. These findings came to light in the country’s first-ever official report on compulsory sterilization in June this year. This week we learn that the report was based on evidence of which half is censored.

Censorship Rears its Head

On August 17th, interviews with Japan’s Lower House Research Bureau and local governments revealed that 26 prefectures submitted partially redacted documents to the National Diet’s investigation into Japan’s tragic history with eugenics and forced sterilizations. The involved compulsory medical procedures targeted people with disabilities under the former Eugenic Protection Law, in effect between 1948 and 1996.

Japanese media reported on Thursday this week that only 10 out of Japan’s 47 prefectures submitted uncensored documents as evidence to the National Diet. 26 submitted partially blacked-out documents citing privacy issues. 11 claimed to have no records containing personal documents. Yamaguchi Prefecture submitted nothing at all, saying that “all materials will be redacted.”

66% Sterilized Without Consent, Including Children

The now-defunct Eugenic Protection Law, modeled on Nazi law, legitimized the sterilization of approximately 25,000 Japanese with mental and intellectual disabilities, as well as genetic diseases. The Upper and Lower Houses passed the law on a unanimous vote with the goal of “preventing the births of inferior offspring.”

Two-thirds of the surgeries were reportedly performed without consent. Official records say the patients ranged from 9 to 57 years old.

While the nature of these compulsory sterilizations has long been a controversial stain on societal discourse in Japan, many of the details remained unknown. That is, until precisely two months ago when the National Diet released its report complied over a three-year-long investigation–––which was apparently hindered by these heavy redactions.

First-ever Investigation

On June 19th, 2023, the Upper and Lower Houses released a 1,400-page report on each of their bureau’s investigations of forced sterilizations of people with disabilities. It is the first official account ever to lay bare the tragedies left behind by the former Eugenic Protection Law.

The report was put together in response to a law enacted in 2019, which stipulated a payment of ¥3.2 million to each victim.

Bioethics professor Yoko Matsubara at Ritsumeikan University told The Japan Times that the document is “a landmark” in that it unveiled shocking details and was made publicly available online. However, the study has a “fatal flaw” in that it doesn’t explain why the practice persisted so long. Neither does it explain what the government will do to prevent history from repeating itself.

Another flaw soon revealed itself. This was the aforementioned issue regarding censorship, coming to light this week. Twenty-six of Japan’s forty-seven prefectures had submitted documents that blacked out names and addresses. Some even censored dates of birth and information about why surgeries were performed.

Japanese women with placards and baby prams march against a Japanese sterilization bill. Photograph is in black and white.
Women march against an amendment to the sterilization law, 1972. Banner reads “We want a society where people can live! We want to give birth!”

Still Fighting…a Losing Battle?

Despite a pre-war origin, the former Eugenic Protection Law is very much a current issue. As the struggle for transparency continues, so does the fight for justice.

On June 1st, 2023, two anonymous women in their sixties and seventies appealed their case against the government as victims of forced sterilization and demanded compensation of ¥71,500,000. The Sendai High Court threw out the plaintiffs’ appeal citing that the 20-year statute of limitations had expired in their case. The plaintiffs have announced plans to appeal again.

The statute of limitations is a legal roadblock for many seeking justice today, considering that many victims of forced sterilization under the former Eugenic Protection Law were children.

Miyagi Prefecture–––one of the 10 prefectures that submitted uncensored documents to the National Diet–––disclosed to Mainichi Shimbun in 2018 that it sterilized 859 mentally handicapped or ill people between 1963 and 1981, 52% of them children.

Approximately forty victims have filed charges against the government so far. There have been seven cases where victims won against the government and eight that lost.

Fearing discrimination, many have kept their identities hidden. These include the two anonymous Miyagi plaintiffs.

But not all choose to remain unidentified. Nishi Sumiko, 76, leads the fight with courage as she throws herself in the public eye.

In the spotlight: Nishi Sumiko

Sumiko traveled from Tokyo to Osaka this April in search of medical records that would prove that she underwent forced sterilization.  

This July, Sumiko spoke to major news outlets like NHK and Nippon TV to share her story.

Consigned to a Separate Life

Sumiko was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at six months old and was navigating her early childhood in a wheelchair.

At nine years old, Sumiko thought that she would soon join her older sisters at the local elementary school.

But during a mandatory health check for incoming students, a doctor told Sumiko, “You’ll feel jealous if you go to the same school (as your sisters),” which was enough to convince her parents to change course.

Sumiko’s parents enrolled her in a boarding school. The contract they had to sign for her admission included “We won’t say anything no matter what happens.”

Sterilized for Banal Reasons

Five years into her stay at the boarding school, Sumiko was 14 years old and had just gotten her first period.

She needed help from the school’s staff to properly change her pads and wipe herself. They were more than reluctant to help and shamelessly complained to her, “I hate changing my own pads. Cleaning up after someone else is even worse.”

It wasn’t long before the staff came up with an ultimate solution for themselves.

“There’s a surgery for stopping your period from coming,” the staff said to Sumiko.

The staff’s reasoning was that people who couldn’t clean their own period up shouldn’t have them.

Sumiko had no information other than that her period would stop coming. She didn’t know her uterus and one ovary would be gone after the surgery she agreed to based on limited information.

Social Consequences

Years later, at 19 years old, Sumiko discovered that she had undergone hysterectomy surgery, or removal of the uterus, without giving her consent. The revelation came to her when, by chance, she came across a book that was about the female anatomy and period cycle.

Sumiko left the boarding school when she turned 28 with plans to marry a man whom she had dated for three and a half years. But her fiancé called off the marriage and broke up with her after learning about Sumiko’s infertility.

Sumiko would move on to marry someone else. Her husband apparently did not know about her infertility and suggested that they both make a doctor’s visit to see why they weren’t conceiving.

Even after her husband learned the truth, they stayed together but divorced 9 years later.

Worth More

Decades later, Sumiko received the overdue ¥3.2 million relief fund from the government as a victim of forced sterilization. But she says that it’s not enough.

“Is my uterus only worth that much?” questions Sumiko.

Sumiko has filed a suit against the government demanding ¥30 million for compensation at the Tokyo District Court.

“I want the government to accept my lawsuit, apologize and compensate for what they did. I don’t want anything like this to happen ever again,” Sumiko tells NHK.

Sources

[1] 26道府県、提出資料黒塗り 旧優生保護法の国会調査. Yahoo!ニュースJAPAN

[2] 旧優生保護法ってなに?. NHK

[3] 旧優生保護法の元で不妊手術“9歳男女が手術も”. NHK

[4] 9歳に手術の事例も 強制不妊、深刻な被害浮き彫り 国の報告書原案. 朝日新聞デジタル

[5] Japan tries to turn page on eugenics policies, but related ideas persist. The Japan Times

[6]【奪われた人生】“障害者”である前に…“旧優生保護法”と強制不妊闘い続ける女性の思い. 日テレNews

[7] 旧優生保護法訴訟 原告側、2審で初の敗訴 上告の方針 仙台高裁. 毎日新聞

[8] 奪われた子宮 西スミ子さん 旧優生保護法・被害者の証言③. NHK

[9] 脳性まひ女性ら強制不妊で国賠提訴…東京・仙台など一斉. 読売新聞

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