Prime Minister Fumio Kishida apologized in person to over 100 victims of forced sterilization at a meeting on Wednesday following a Supreme Court ruling earlier this month declaring that Japan's now-defunct eugenics law was unconstitutional.
The meeting, which was attended by 134 individuals, including 19 plaintiffs of lawsuits heard by the top court, their lawyers and other stakeholders, could herald the beginning of improved relations between the government and the victims of forced sterilization, which were performed under the Eugenic Protection Act that was in force from 1948 to 1996.
“The government’s responsibility is significantly large. I offer my apologies from the bottom of my heart,” Kishida said at the meeting. “We will decide as soon as possible on a new framework for compensation.”