TIMECODE

DIALOGUE

10:00:03

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101 EAST

10:00:07

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:   When Tokyo hosts the 2020 Paralympics, Japan’s most talented disabled athletes will get their shot at fame and glory.  But outside the stadiums, is a society that still struggles to accept people who are disabled.

10:00:24

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  In the past, thousands of Japanese citizens were forcibly sterilised for having intellectual or physical disabilities.  Now victims are demanding compensation.   

10:00:36

KIKUO KOJIMA:  To make sure this doesn’t happen again… I want an apology from the government.

10:00:43

DREW AMBROSE:  I’m Drew Ambrose, on this episode of 101 East we meet the people fighting to overcome Japan’s pursuit of perfection. 

10:00:52

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JAPAN’S DISABILITY SHAME

A FILM BY DREW AMBROSE & JENNI HENDERSON

10:01:03

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER: Even on a rainy day, Sagamihara looks peaceful.  But in 2016, this small town near Tokyo was the site of Japan’s biggest mass killing since World War 2.

10:01:17

TAKASHI ONO: I think discrimination within Japan led to this incident.     

10:01:30

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER: Takashi and Chikiko Ono’s disable son was badly injured that day in July 2016.   

10:01:38

TAKASHI ONO:  The sight of the dead being carried away, the blood of the injured.  It was very difficult to look at.     

10:01:50

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  In the early hours of the morning, armed with a knife, the killer Satoshi Uematsu broke into a care home for the disabled.

10:01:59

TAKASHI ONO: Uematsu entered through the women’s ward then carried on to the back…   

10:02:10

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  A former employee at the care home, Uematsu knew his way around.  As he made his way through the building, he stabbed the disabled patients, murdering 19 and injuring 27 others.

10:02:26

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  After the attack, he surrendered himself at a nearby police station, reportedly saying, “It’s better that the disabled just disappear”. 

10:02:37

TAKASHI ONO:  He said they were unnecessary in society… and he said he thought it was not a crime to kill them.   That’s how he justified himself.  I couldn’t believe it!  Rather than hate or rage, I felt disbelief.

10:03:02

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  Months before his killing spree, Uematsu resigned from this job at the care home after delivering a letter to Japan’s parliament.  In it he wrote that disabled people should be euthanized and offered to kill 470 of them.  

10:03:19

TAKASHI ONO:  The police… they didn’t prepare proper security after seeing the letter. Sixteen security cameras were installed… but they were only for monitoring.  It wasn’t part of an alarm system. 

10:03:40

TAKASHI ONO:  The police underestimated Uematsu’s ability to commit the crime.

10:03:54

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER: The Ono’s first heard about the attack through news reports. As the bodies were being taken away and the police gathered evidence from the killer’s house, Chikiko rushed to the hospital to see her son Kazuya.

10:04:09

CHIKIKO ONO: I thought many times he may not make it.  It was such a complex surgery.  He was cut here… and stabbed here.  He was cut four centimetres deep in the stomach.  His intestines were barely hanging together… and both of his hands were cut… here and here. I braced myself for the worst.   

10:04:48

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  In the days after, Takashi says the families remained in the dark.

10:04:53

TAKASHI ONO: We had no information at all.  That really angered me.  Finally, 10 days after the incident… a briefing for the families was held for the first time. 

10:05:13

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  Kazuya has a profound intellectual disability, epilepsy and autism.  He was first institutionalised at 16.

10:05:22

TAKASHI ONO:  Kazuya’s disability got worse.  He had panic attacks, hurt other people and himself.  Those who didn’t understand shouted abuse. They called us on the phone and told us to send our child away.

10:05:42

TAKASHI ONO: We have always lived with this discrimination and prejudice… but we tried to raise him without worrying about it. 

10:05:54

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  Two years after the attack, Kazuya has physically recovered and lives at another care home.  But his mother says he is still haunted by what happened.

10:06:05

CHIKIKO ONO: He lifted his clothes and said, “Blood!”.  He said there was blood… and said, “Pain!”

10:06:17

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  Once a month at a makeshift memorial, families affected by the massacre lay flowers so that those who died can reach heaven.  When a total stranger arrives at the vigil, the Ono’s are overjoyed.

10:06:32

VISITOR:  Is it ok to put them here?

TAKASHI ONO:  Yes, just there is fine.    

10:06:37

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  The visitor says he had nothing to do with the incident, but was so affected by what happened that he travelled an hour and a half by bus to pay his respects.

10:06:47

TAKASHI ONO: Really, sometimes even the families find it difficult to come… so when members of the general public attend the vigil, I’m very grateful. 

10:06:57

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  The Ono’s are only one of two families to speak publicly about the attack.  The rest of the victims have never been named.

10:07:07

TAKASHI ONO:  Because of the incident, the families of children with a severe mental disability… have feared society finding out about them.  They feared society’s look of disdain and criticism.

10:07:30

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  As staff from the institution come to pack up the vigil…

WOMAN: Thank you.

TAKASHI ONO: Please come again! 

10:07:38

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  … the Ono’s farewell a new friend.

VISITOR:  I’ll call you!

TAKASHI ONO: Ok, thank you.

10:07:51

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  In 2020, Tokyo will be the first city in the world to hose the Paralympic Gams for a second time.  The Japanese Government hopes this event will increase awareness for the more than seven million Japanese living with disabilities.

10:08:06

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER: At a training camp for the national team, I meet long jumper Hajimu Ashida.

10:08:14

DREW AMBROSE: Tokyo will host the next Paralympic Games, it’s your home country, does that make you excited or a little bit more nervous?

10:08:22

HAJIMU ASHIDA: From the perspective of an athlete, I’m quite worried.  Will this event just come and go without creating lasting change?  Disabled people are always seen as inferior to healthy people… so people’s thinking will remain the same.

10:08:44

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  Hajimu started training in high school.  At the time a desmoid tumour was growing in his right arm and doctors were considering amputation.

10:08:55

HAJIMU ASHIDA: It’s a benign tumour... but it spreads and regrows in one area.  It’s an intractable and rare disease affecting one in a million.  Because of the radiation therapy I had when I was 11 years old… my arm stopped growing at that age.

10:09:17

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  With his tumour no longer spreading, Hajimu’s Paralympic career is taking off in leaps and bounds.  After winning bronze in long jump at the recent Asian Para Games, Hajimu’s ultimate goal is to compete at the summer Olympics.  

10:09:35

HAJIMU ASHIDA:  I want to compete with the top athletes at able-bodied athletics events.  For me, it will mean breaking through all kinds of obstacles. Japan is good at putting people in boxes.  I’m trying to remove the disability label.

10:10:08

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  Japan has a long history of discrimination against the disabled.  While the country was hosting the Paralympics in 1964, people considered mentally and physically inferior were being forcibly sterilised.     

10:10:25

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  The Eugenic Protection Law began after World War II when Japan was struggling with food shortages and a ravaged economy.  Close to 25,000 Japanese citizens were sterilised over the next four decades – sixteen thousand of them, against their will.

10:10:45

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  The policy only stopped in 1996.  For years victims have suffered in silence and shame.  Only now are some demanding compensation, but such is the stigma, most do so anonymously.  

10:11:05

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  In the northern province of Hokkaido, Kikuo Kojima is the first to speak out publicly. 

10:11:12

KIKUO KOJIMA: It really is the government’s fault.  We all have the right to live… even with disabilities.  They stripped us of this right. That’s why I revealed my name… and I hope more people will follow.

10:11:33

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  Kikuo says his childhood was tough.  He contracted polio when he was only two and grew up on a farm with a foster family.

10:11:42

KIKUO KOJIMA: My foster parents took out a lot of their anger and frustrations on me.  I lived every day in fear.  I was never even held once by my parents.  Even when I went out to play, people would call me a stray.   

10:12:06

KIKUO KOJIMA: At school, I was bullied because of my disabled legs.  It was agonising.  If I stayed home, everyone taunted me… and said, “You can’t even work on the farm. You are better off dead!”

10:12:30

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER: Kikuo left home and spiralled into delinquency and gangs.  At 19, he returned to demand money from his foster father who called the police.  Kikuo says he was arrested and taken to Nakae Hospital.

10:12:48

KIKUO KOJIMA: Why a psychiatric hospital? I had never hurt anyone and I didn’t think I had a mental illness.  When I tried to resist, I was given electric shock treatment. An electric shock right here.

10:13:11

DREW AMBROSE:  Did the doctors or nurses say anything to you?

KIKUO KOJIMA: I remember what the nurse said clearly.  “Mr Kojima, you have schizophrenia. You have a disability.  People like you should not have children”.

10:13:35

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  But Kikuo insists he was never formally diagnosed with a mental illness.

10:13:40

KIKUO KOJIMA: If I spoke out, they would give me shock treatment and injections again.

10:13:46

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  Kikuo says he witnessed other patients being taken to the operating room for forced sterilisation surgery.  Some as young as 14.  After a year in the hospital, Kikuo was told that he too would have the procedure.

10:14:2

KIKUO KOJIMA: Everyone in the big room was forced to do it, even beaten… so I had given up.  If I said anything, they would handcuff me.  They had five or six cells in the basement. And the long-term patients who worked for the nurses as orderlies… they were terrifying.

10:14:34

DREW AMBROSE: Can you tell me a little bit about what happened on the day of the operation?

10:14:39

KIKUO KOJIMA: They lifted me onto the operating table and tied down my arms and legs.  Then they made injections in my groin. It was painful because the anaesthetic didn’t work.  It was excruciating. But I endure it in spite of that.  It took 40 to 50 minutes.

10:15:014

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER: Soon afterwards, Kikuo managed to flee the hospital.  He got work as a taxi driver and tried to move on with his life.  For 57 years he kept the operation a secret from everyone, including his wife, Reiko. 

10:15:23

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  But earlier this year when another forced sterilisation case made national headlines, Kikuo finally revealed what happened.

10:15:31

KIKUO’S WIFE: My husband said… “This was also done to me”. I said, “What do you meant this was done to you?” I asked him, “Is it true?  It’s unforgiveable”.  At first, for me, it was really unbelievable that something like this could happen. 

10:15:52

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  At his lawyer’s office, Kikuo prepares his testimony for his civil case against the government in the district court.

10:15:59

LAWYER:  You can testify for 20 minutes.  You can describe what you have suffered in your own words.

10:16:08

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  His lawyer has evidence from doctors confirming the scars near his groin are consistent with a sterilisation procedure.

10:16:16

LAWYER: Dr Noda is a very well-known psychiatrist. Dr Noda believes you aren’t schizophrenic.  He says you were hospitalised… and forced to have an operation, despite not having a disease.

10:16:34

KIKUO KOJIMA: Having the operation destroyed all of my life goals.  I’ve kept this secret since I was 20 years old… and I’ve suffered with it for 57 years.  I want the country to apologise.

10:16:58

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER: Today, Kikuo is showing me Nakae Hospital.  It’s only 30 minutes from his home.

10:17:04

KIKUO KOJIMA: Around here…

DREW AMBROSE: I think he wants to show us the exit.

10:17:09

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  The hospital has changed over the years, but the memories of his dramatic escape come flooding back. 

10:17:15

KIKUO KOJIMA: I was in charge of throwing out the rubbish.  The yard was here.  One day, when they unlocked the door onto this area… I just ran out in my slippers and ran that way.  I took a bus and escaped.  I was smart, I escaped.  If I hadn’t run away, I would have been killed in there.  I don’t even want to look at the sign… it’s unbearable for me… I hate the sign.

10:17:48

DREW AMBROSE: Mr Kojima you used to work as a taxi driver, how hard was it to drop off patients here?

KIKUO KOJIMA: When I dropped off patients here, I really felt… I felt frustrated, sad and helpless.  After I dropped them off, I would cry by myself.  I really hate the hospital, I don’t even want to look at it any more. 

10:18:19

KIKUO KOJIMA: How do I explain it?  It brings back the fear that I felt.  It’s so painful… but I’ve got to overcome it.  I remember it was really very hard.  [upset] 

10:18:50

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  The hospital declined to comment on Kikuo Kojima’s case. 

10:19:03

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER: The government says the lives of the disabled are getting better.  Sterilisation stopped in 1996 and employment quotas and anti-discrimination laws have been introduced.  But this year, a scandal revealed they lied about the number of disabled people working in their own ministry.

10:19:25

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER: Only half the number they claimed were employed.

10:19:28

SHUHEI ONISHI: Japanese company culture… it’s not good for people with disabilities.   

10:19:36

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  Shuhei Onishi has struggled to get a job despite being a recent graduate of an American Community College.  He has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a progressive genetic disorder that requires constant care.  Despite his severe disability, Shuhei believes he has a lot to offer the workplace.

10:20:01

SHUHEI ONISHI: I can speak English and I have computer skills but they don’t accept me… because I cannot do anything by myself.  If people with disabilities don’t have a job… they feel lonely.  

10:20:22

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  Being wheel-chair bound and reliant on a respirator, hasn’t stopped Shuhei from travelling the world and with no one willing to employ him, he started his own business, advising other people with disabilities how to study abroad.  

10:20:40

WOMAN ON COMPUTER: I was thinking of studying in the US… but my biggest concern is if I’d be able to find a carer. 

10:20:49

SHUHEI ONISHI: Well, the US is very big, so it really depends on where you plan to study…

10:20:57

SHUHEI ONISHI: My life was boring actually, so I wanted to do something. Even now, I want to do something more… like big things!

10:21:19

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER: But Shuhei feels as though Japan holds him back.  He gets a carer for 17 hours a day, but the rest of his time must be spent in this welfare centre.  And while the staff here do their best to care for people with a wide range of disabilities,
Shuhei would rather be part of the wider world.

10:21:40

SHUHEI ONISHI: Yeah, this is a very good centre for people with disabilities, but… actually I don’t want to come here.  I just want to work… or do anything, yeah?

10:21:57

DREW AMBROSE: If you could be out of your chair and out of your respirator for one day, what would you do?

10:22:06

SHUHEI ONISHI: Actually, I’ve been thinking about that question… but it’s kind of just nonsense for me. Because, you know, I never imagine that.  I don’t want to imagine, because you know… this is me. You know, respirator and the wheelchair.  That’s me, yeah?  I’m ok, I’m fine to live. I just enjoy my life, yeah?

10:22:47

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  It’s Wednesday and on the other side of town, the Ono’s are visiting their son Kazuya in his care home.  It’s perfect weather for a picnic.

10:22:59

TAKASHI ONO: Let’s bring Kazuya out here. 

10:23:02

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  They head to Kazuya’s ward.

TAKASHI ONO: Hello, it’s Mr Ono.  Is Kazuya there? Kazuya… this way… this way… come with us.

10:23:16

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  For two hours the couple and his carer dote on Kazuya and he basks in their love. 

10:23:24

TAKASHI ONO: Kazuya can’t say the days of the week in order.  But he knows which day we will visit him… on Wednesday.  This is the happiest day in the week for me.  I look forward to Wednesdays.   Thank you.

10:24:01

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  Mr Ono says the attack brought them all closer together.  The couple realised they relied too much on institution to take care of their son.  They only used to visit him once a month, now it’s a weekly affair.

10:24:18

TAKASHI ONO: He has begun to speak more and respond to us.  Before, all he’d say was “No” or “I do not want”.  But now he’s able to respond more.  Kazuya even asks me, “Daddy, when are you coming next?” This makes me so happy!  When I tell him I’m coming, he’s so happy.  “You’re coming!”

10:24:51

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  When the visit comes to an end, Kazuya pipes up with the same question again and again.

KAZUYA ONO: Are you coming back?

TAKASHI ONO: Yes we’re coming back.   

10:25:00

CHIKIKO ONO: He looks so happy when we tell him we’re coming back.

KAZUYA:  Are you coming back? Please come…

CHIKIKO ONO: Yes, I’ll be back on Wednesday.  Yes, father will be coming too. Yes, we will all be coming.  Come on, speak nicely!

10:25:25

DREW AMBROSE VOICEOVER:  Goodbyes and the long drive home are always tough for the Ono’s.  But Kazuya knows they’ll always have next Wednesday.

10:25:36

TAKASHI ONO: Yes, Kazuya… it’s time to go back.  Say “Goodbye” to the camera…

KAZUYA ONO:  Goodbye!

10:25:57

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