How Japan's Troubled Past with Institutionalized Children with Disabilities Is Being Reformed Japan's dark history of institutionalization serves as a painful reminder of the country's troubled past when it comes to supporting children with disabilities.
For decades, thousands of children were forcibly removed from their families and placed in facilities designed to "protect" them, but instead subjected them to isolation, neglect, and even abuse.
The kijutsu system, which held children in wooden boxes for their own protection, was a particularly dehumanizing experience.