Abstract
This article examines the Furusato no mori movement, which was organized by the inmates of the National Hansen's disease sanatorium Tama Zenshouen, in order to explore how they developed the relationships among themselves and made their lives meaningful amidst social change in postwar Japan.
The isolation policy for the people who were infected with Hansen's disease was established through the formation of the nation-state since the beginning of the modern era in Japan. This isolation policy segregated Hansen's disease sufferers from the general public and confined them to sanatoriums. This policy was adopted for a century, until the year 1996.
Meanwhile, the attitude toward Hansen's disease sufferers had radically changed in the process of urbanization in postwar Japan, especially in the case of Tama Zenshouen. In such a scenario, it became essential for those afflicted with the disease to construct the reality of their everyday lives as the conventional ways of living in the sanatorium had changed significantly.
Through the Furusato no mori movement, the Tama Zenshouen inmates tried to rebuild relationships among themselves and with people outside the sanatorium since the latter half of the 1970s. They found new meaning in their lives and changed their mindset from "we cannot go back to our homes" to "we have made a new home by ourselves." From this research, we can understand the experiences of Hansen's disease sufferers in the sanatorium and how they have made their lives more meaningful amidst social change in postwar Japan.
