Arab News Japan

TOKYO: A 78-year-old Miyagi prefecture man who sued the Japanese state in 2018 for forced sterilization has won his case.

He is the second person to prevail against the state on this issue; six other lawsuits have been rejected, and the statute of limitations period was invoked successfully in those cases.

For the lawyers who unrolled scrolls with formally rendered Japanese script indicating the court decision and the victory of their client in front of waiting journalists, what was at stake was whether they could convince the court the application of the 20-year limitation period ran contrary to the right to happiness enshrined in the constitution.

In Japan, the eugenics law, which was enacted as part of a program carried out from 1948 and heavily based on then current beliefs of Social Darwinism was later repealed in 1996.  The law targeted people with physical or mental handicaps and conditions such as leprosy or genetic disease. Many sterilization operations were carried out without patient consent, including operations on children.

The court ruling held that the plaintiff is to be paid compensation valued at 15 million yen for infringement of his “right to live.”