KUMAMOTO – The operator of a hotel that refused to accept former Hansens disease patients last year said Monday that the establishment will close down.

Tadao Eguchi, president of Aistar Co., operator of Ai-Ladies Kyuden Kurokawa Onsen Hotel in the popular Kurokawa Onsen hot spring resort, made the announcement after explaining the decision to the hotels 38 employees.

The move comes on the heels of media reports Sunday that the Kumamoto Prefectural Government planned to order the hotel to suspend business because of its actions.

In November, the hotel refused to accept the former patients as guests after learning of their medical history, saying such an act would not be understood by other guests. The action drew public criticism but also served to show how deep-rooted discrimination toward former Hansens sufferers is in Japan.

For decades, the government adopted a segregation policy toward Hansens patients, which continued even after it was scientifically proven that the illness, commonly known as leprosy, could be cured and that former patients were unlikely to transmit the disease.

The policy was in effect until the 1953 Leprosy Prevention Law was repealed in 1996.

In explaining his firms decision, Eguchi said it was the greatest apology we can make in response to our rejection of the former Hansens patients.

He added that it was as yet unclear exactly when the hotel would close its doors, as there are still guests with reservations. Also, there is an ongoing investigation by the Kumamoto District Public Prosecutors Office in response to a criminal complaint that the inn violated the Hotel Business Law.

However, former patients questioned the timing of the announcement, with some saying it was a clever ploy on the part of the hotels operator to shift the blame for the incident to others.

Akira Ota, leader of the residents community at the Kikichi Keifu-en sanitarium, whose residents were denied accommodations at the hotel, said he expected Aistar to make such a move.

It was probably trying to find the right timing ahead of the prefectures plans to issue administrative orders against the hotel, he said.

Aistar has argued that the prefecture should be blamed for the flap, as prefectural officials did not inform the hotel that the guests were former Hansens disease patients when making the reservations in September.

On Monday, Eguchi said that while he is dissatisfied with the prefectures handling of the issue, he did not plan to dispute it.