The Justice Ministry's local chapter in Tokushima Prefecture issued a warning Thursday to a semipublic hot spring hotel in Ichiba for its refusal to allow two blind people to stay there with their guide dogs last month.

The ministry judged that the company that runs the Shiratori-so hotel violated a law concerning guide dogs and infringed on the prospective guests' human rights.

The move followed media reports earlier this month that the hotel in October rejected a group of 15 blind people who planned to stay at the hotel Nov. 23, saying the facility is too old to accommodate guide dogs that were to accompany two of the members. The group had no choice but to stay at another inn, the ministry said.

It was the first time the government has taken administrative action over a violation of the guide dog law, which took effect in October 2002.

The law, which originally targeted public facilities and transportation means, was expanded to prevent hotels, stores and restaurants from refusing entry to guide dogs.

In the meantime, the ministry's local chapter in Yamanashi Prefecture issued a warning to a private nursery school in Kofu for refusing to accept the infant of an HIV-positive parent in February.

The ministry, which didn't confirm whether the parent or child were HIV positive, said the operator took the discriminatory act out of prejudice against people with HIV.

Such warnings, intended to urge those responsible for discrimination to regret and correct their actions, were issued 249 times last year.

Expressing his deep regret over the incidents, Shuichi Yoshikai, chief of the ministry's Civil Liberties Bureau, said it is the duty of all of society to protect and respect disabled people.