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15 Palauan Patients Shot By Japanese Troops
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(By David Miho in Palau, Pacific Magazine, March 21, 2007)
A history professor from Japan believes that in August 1944 the Japanese Imperial Army may have killed as many as 15 Palauans who were afflicted with Hansen’s disease. The soldiers shot the islanders who escaped from a Palau island where they were quarantined because of their medical condition.
Yutaka Fujino, a professor at Toyama University, is in Palau to confirm information he gleaned from documents he studied of the alleged incident.
In an exclusive interview with Pacific Magazine, Fujino said he met with the Republic of Palau’s Minister of State Temmy Schmull and Minister of Health Victor Yano and confirmed their knowledge of incident. He also learned of the existence of a survivor of "Raibyo Jima," or “Leper's Island,” and met with the man.
Fujino said that he believes that about 30 patients and 200 family members lived on the island, which is within sight of Koror's posh Palau Pacific Resort. The patients were mostly from Palau, but included others from the Japanese-administered Mariana Islands and Caroline Islands.
 Professor Yutaka Fujino. Photo: David Miho
The survivor related to Fujino that toward the end of World War II, the patients, quarantined on the island by the Japanese administration and military, planned and executed a successful escape. Soldiers soon pursued and killed 10 patients on Babeldaob Island and five on “Raibyo Jima” itself, Fujino said.
The survivor told Fujino that he was assigned to dig graves and buried five victims on the island. The graves are still visible today. Three patients who survived were sent to a Hansen’s disease facility on Tinian Island in the Northern Marianas during the 1950s.
The survivor was not a Hansen's disease patient. He was the son of a patient and was quarantined with his mother.
It is Fujino's hope that through his research and validation of these events, the facts will be acknowledged by Japan. He hopes that "just compensation will be due" for deserving people.
Fujino said that Japan only recognizes Taiwan and South Korea as areas where claims related to World War II are still considered. He said his research on the deaths might lead Japan to include Palau in that group.
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