National Hansen's Disease Museum (Japan)

National Hansen's Disease Museum (国立ハンセン病資料館)
main entrance
Map
EstablishedJune 1993
LocationHigashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan
Websitewww.hansen-dis.jp

The National Hansen's Disease Museum (国立ハンセン病資料館, Kokuritsu Hansen-byō Shiryōkan) is a museum in Higashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan that is dedicated to education about Hansen's disease (leprosy) and to eliminating discriminatory practices against its sufferers. It was formerly (1993–2007) named "His Imperial Highness Prince Takamatsu Memorial Museum of Hansen's Disease".

The museum is located next to one of Japan's remaining leprosy sanatoriums, and its purposes are:[1]

  • To promote awareness of leprosy
  • To represent and preserve the history of leprosy in Japan
  • To show what persons affected by leprosy have achieved
  • To help restore the dignity of persons affected by leprosy
  • To demonstrate the importance of human rights and the linked need to end prejudice and discrimination
  1. ^ National Hansen's Disease Museum Re-opens in Tokyo Archived 2011-07-25 at the Wayback Machine (retrieved August 1, 2009)