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【Photo Diary】 (3) Visit to India

Published on March 28, 2025

I would like to share with you some of the photographs taken during my visit to India from January 29 to February 3, 2025, in my capacity as chairman of The Nippon Foundation and WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination.

[February 1, Bhubaneswar, India]

Photo of residents of the Photo of residents of — Visiting the Jaganath Kustha Colony.

Photo of the street of the Jaganath Kustha Colony — I learned that the residents of the colony live in fear of being evicted at any moment.

Photo of residents of the Jaganath Kustha Colony and Yohei Sasakawa — Encouraging the residents of the leprosy colony to rise up and work together to better their day-to-day lives.

Photo of children and Yohei Sasakawa — With children who treated me to a dance performance.

Photo of the Cuttack Leprosy Home and Hospital — Visiting the Cuttack Leprosy Home and Hospital for the first time in 22 years. The home has over 200 residents and the 120-bed hospital sees 150 patients a day from all over Odisha.

Photo of the wall separating the facility fromPhoto of the wall — The wall separating the facility from the outside world remains as it was 22 years ago.

Photo of Yohei Sasakawa — With a bust of Mahatma Gandhi. January 30, the anniversary of Gandhi’s death, is observed as Anti-Leprosy Day in India.

Photo of the bus — En route to the next colony, one of the tires on the bus burst with a loud bang and we had to wait a while alongside the main road.

Photo of a cow and Yohei Sasakawa — A sacred cow greets me while the burst tire is being replaced.

Photo of Yohei Sasakawa — Visiting the Shantidan Kustha Colony. I was garlanded to the point that I couldn’t move my head from side to side.

Photo of Yohei Sasakawa — Trying to plant trees, my neck felt so heavy that I thought I might tip over.

Photo of the residents and Yohei Sasakawa — All colonies have serious land problems.

[February 2, Bhubaneswar, India]

Photo of Ms. Maya Ranavare, Yohei Sasakawa, Mr. Jawahar Ram Paswan — With Ms. Maya Ranavare (left), president of the Association of People Affected by Leprosy (APAL), and its Vice President Mr. Jawahar Ram Paswan (right).

After an overnight stay in Chennai, we moved on to the next destination of our two-nation trip, Sri Lanka.

(End)

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