Tucked away in the "In Short" section of The Japan News newspaper (9/1/13, p.2) and the 8th story in the "Society" section of its website we can see that HIV/AIDS continues to be a big problem in Japan with rising numbers of people infected:
The number of people in Japan who developed AIDS without knowing they had HIV in April-June totaled 146, a record high for any quarter since records began in 1984, according to the health ministry.
The ministry said the number of newly reported HIV infections came to 294, the second-highest so far, meaning the total number of newly reported AIDS and HIV patients amounted to a record high of 440.
A ministry official said that while the highest number of AIDS infections occurred in people in their 40s, there was a conspicuous increase in the number of infections among people in their 50s and older. Infections are spreading in a wide range of age groups, the official said.
Source: http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0000525526
VAOJ has long be covering the HIV/AIDS situation in Japan. Click here for previous posts.
My interest in this serious and seriously under-reported problem began with research about deaf people with HIV/AIDS that was eventually published in HIV/AIDS and Deaf Communities (Schmaling and Monaghan, eds. 2006). Click here to see the post. The book (actually a focused edition of the journal Deaf Worlds) seems to be out of print and no longer available. If you are interested, please leave a comment requesting the text and I will be happy to send it to you.
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