In a hatch at a hospital in southern Japan's Kumamoto, children can be left anonymously by a desperate family. Instituted in 2007, 161 babies and toddlers have been left in the hatch in 15 years, but opinions are divided whether it encourages abandonment of children or gives them a new lease of life
A nurse demonstrates Japan's first "baby hatch", where parents can drop off unwanted infants anonymously, during a press preview at the Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto, on Japan's southern island of Kyushu, 01 May 2007. The hospital plans to put the hatch, modelled on the "Babyklappe" widely in use in Germany, to use on 10 May, despite opposition from the concervative national government. Image: AFP / JIJI PRESS
Kumamoto, Japan: Inside Koichi Miyatsu's blue, child-sized backpack are neatly folded cartoon-print sweatshirts and a pair of white sneakers—all he has from before he was left at Japan's only "baby hatch".
He was only a toddler when he was placed in the hatch at a hospital in southern Japan's Kumamoto, where children can be left anonymously by desperate family.
"These are some of the clothes I was wearing when I was left there," 18-year-old Miyatsu told AFP.
"They are the oldest memories I have of my childhood... so I've treasured them ever since."
This year, Miyatsu became the first person to speak publicly in Japan about being abandoned in the hatch, which first opened in 2007, modelled on a German programme.