Bronze in Analog/Photojournalism / 2026 / Analog / Photojournalism

• Prize
  Bronze in Analog/Photojournalism
• Photographer
  Takuya Tanabe, Japan
• Date of Photograph
  December 2025 – Present
• Studio
  The Asahi Shimbun

This series documents the life of Shinji Nakao, who has spent decades in a national sanatorium for Hansen’s disease in Japan.
Separated from his family at 14, he was placed in the institution, where his ties were severed and he was forced to undergo sterilization. Unable to return to society, he has lived there ever since and now lives alone at 92.
In Japan, patients were forcibly isolated under government policy and often subjected to sterilization. Although abolished 30 years ago, these policies continue to shape lives, while stigma and discrimination still silence many.