Japanese Lawmaker with a disability Eiko Kimura tests positive for COVID-19
The House of Councilors announced on the 24th that Reiwa Shinsengumi member Eiko Kimura was infected with the new coronavirus. Ms. Kimura has cerebral palsy.
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Japan’s ruling party approves amendment to Disability Discrimination Law requiring ‘reasonable accommodation’
The amendment requires companies to provide “reasonable accommodation” to support the movement and communication of persons with disabilities as far as possible.
International Paralympic Committee President doesn’t “see a possibility of cancellation at this stage” for Tokyo Games
International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons voiced his confidence that the Tokyo Paralympics, which was pushed back by one year due to the coronavirus pandemic, will be held this summer as scheduled.
Japan’s ‘home visit’ care workers not to be given vaccine priority
The Japanese government wants to start priority vaccinations for the new coronavirus to care workers who work in facilities for the elderly. In fact, even in the same long-term care work, those who work in facilities such as elderly homes are eligible for priority vaccination, but those who work in home-visit care are not.
Subcommittee formed to improve disability welfare in Kanagawa Prefecture
A subcommittee examining the welfare of persons with disabilities in Kanagawa Prefecture said, “At prefectural facilities for persons with disabilities, the physical restraints of users are not taken into consideration, and improvements are needed.”
Delay Expected in Coronavirus Vaccinations for Elderly in Japan
Coronavirus vaccinations for those aged 65 or older are expected to make a full-fledged start in Japan later than currently planned.
More than 30 Japanese Paralympic athletes anxiously await classification for Tokyo Games
Athletes’ disabilities are classified for the Paralympics to ensure fair competition. In athletics, this results in the men’s 100 meters being split into 16 different categories.
International Paralympic Committee welcomes new Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto
IPC President Andrew Parsons congratulated Seiko Hashimoto on her appointment as the new President of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee.
Man arrested in Nara Prefecture allegedly killed disabled daughter “to escape this life”
The suspect who is thirty-six years old, is a cook in Uda City, Nara Prefecture, who was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, was at a special support school in Asuka Village, where his eldest daughter, Nanako (10), who was in the fourth grade of elementary school, which she attended on the afternoon of the 12th. There is a suspicion that Nanako was kidnapped.
Japanese Bankers Association to ask banks to allow third party requests for withdrawals from accounts held by people with dementia
The Japanese Bankers Association, or Zenginkyo, said Thursday that it will ask member commercial banks to flexibly respond to third-party requests for withdrawals of dementia sufferers’ deposits.
“Someone stop me”: Mother with an intellectual disability on trial for murder of her daughter
Prosecutors acknowledged that the woman was of diminished capacity due to parenting burdens as well as her disability, and requested a 5-year prison sentence. The defense called for a suspended sentence, and the trial concluded.
Coronavirus cluster found at Shiga Prefecture disability welfare facility
A woman in her 50s who used a disability welfare-related office in Koka City was infected, and a total of 5 people including staff members became positive by the same day, so it was judged that a cluster had occurred.
Japan Aims to Finish Vaccinations for Elderly in 3 Months
The Japanese government aims to start COVID-19 vaccinations on April 1, the beginning of fiscal 2021, for a total of some 36 million people in the country who will become 65 or older in the year, aiming to finish the vaccinations within three months.
123 people in Japan died of coronavirus at home, nursing and care facilities in January 2021
Of the total, 123 died at home, elderly nursing homes and accommodation facilities, while the other nine died at workplaces, parking areas and other locations.
Family of a man who died at Japanese Defense Hospital with flawed info system awarded 27 million Yen in damages
A man who had been admitted to a Japanese Defense Ministry-run hospital died in 2015 without receiving prompt treatment as his medical information was not shared, relatives and officials said Wednesday.
Heart Patients’ Serious Complications Increase amid Epidemic
Delayed visits to hospitals due to the coronavirus crisis have boosted the number of heart infarction patients developing serious complications fourfold, according to a team of Japanese researchers.
LDP Panel Seeks Early Vaccinations for Elderly Facility Workers
A panel of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party drew up on Monday a set of urgent proposals including a request for group vaccinations against the new coronavirus for residents and workers at elderly care facilities.
Intensive COVID testing at Japan’s nursing care facilities
The Japanese government has asked ten prefectures under its coronavirus state of emergency to launch an intensive coronavirus testing campaign at elderly care facilities. The action is in response to the growing number of cluster infections at such facilities.
Japan court dismisses forced sterilization suit citing lack of evidence for surgery
However, the ruling said, “The possibility that she had the abortion due to economic reasons cannot be ruled out,” and stated it cannot be recognized that she was forced to have the surgery in accordance with the law. With regard to forced sterilization, the court said, “There is not enough evidence, such as a doctor’s opinion and photographs of surgery scars, to recognize that she underwent the surgery.”
Japan Adopts Bill to Raise Out-of-Pocket Medical Fees for Elderly
The burden rate of medical fees will go up to 20 pct from 10 pct at present if the bill is enacted. The income threshold will be 3.2 million yen for two-member households in which both are 75 or older.
A disabled woman says of Japan’s PM Suga’s statement: “The Prime Minister’s words sounded to me more like ‘Die if you don’t have money'”
“The prime minister’s words sounded to me more like ‘Die if you don’t have money,’ passing over ‘We won’t help you until the very end.’ And it made me tear up,” a woman in her 30s in the western Japan city of Osaka said. Both she and her husband have disabilities, and live on welfare and disability pensions.
First oral argument in lawsuit over access issues at unmanned stations heard
The first oral argument in a lawsuit in which three people with disabilities in Oita City sought damages from JR Kyushu (Fukuoka City) was held at the Oita District Court on the 4th, alleging that the unmanned railway station violated freedom of movement.
Japan mayor apologies for saying about the developmentally disabled: “children who don’t end up that way may be able to spend their whole lives happily as abled people.”
During a “GM21 Meeting” between the prefectural governor of Saga and mayors of 20 municipalities within the prefecture on Jan. 26, Kanzaki Mayor Shigeyuki Matsumoto, 70, remarked, “If the cause can be ascertained, children who don’t end up that way (with developmental disabilities) may be able to spend their whole lives happily as abled people.”
Japanese disability groups see shadow of eugenic thought and feel ‘sense of crisis’ about assisted reproduction law
Some Japanese disability rights groups have highlighted issues with the bill, as it requires the child to be in ‘good physical and mental health’.
COVID-19 Vaccinations for Elderly Japanese Unlikely before April
The start of vaccinations for people aged 65 or older “will be April 1 or later,” Kono said during an online meeting with National Governors’ Association President Kamon Iizumi.
Japan’s Local Governments Preparing for Coronavirus Vaccination
The Japanese government plans to start the vaccination in late February. About 10,000 to 20,000 medical professionals will be first in line for inoculation, followed by other medical workers, elderly people and people with underlying conditions, and other citizens.
Coronavirus Vaccination Tickets to Be Sent to Elderly People from Mid-March
According to the ministry, the vaccination tickets will be sent to about 36 million elderly people, who are third priority for vaccinations, after the first group of 10,000 to 20,000 medical workers and the second of 3.7 million other medical workers.
Employment of people with disabilities in Nagasaki increases by 2.61%
The Nagasaki Labor Bureau has summarized the employment situation of persons with disabilities in the prefecture (as of June 1, last year). In private companies, the actual employment rate, which indicates the ratio of persons with disabilities to employees, increased by 0.07 points from the previous year to 2.61%, the highest ever since the start of aggregation in 1977.
Teacher at a special school in Japan under investigation after tweeting, “Children with disabilities, better not”
It was found that a female teacher in her 60s working at a special school in western Gunma Prefecture posted on Twitter content that discriminates against persons with disabilities. The prefectural board of education is also grasping the facts and considering the disposal of the teacher.
Design of Memorial to Sagamihara Massacre Published
The design of the memorial monument to be installed at the intellectually disabled facility in Sagamihara City, where 19 people were killed was chosen.
The monument will have a space to put the names of the victims, and the prefecture will confirm its intention to put the names on the bereaved families in the future.
Safety guidance for visually impaired people using QR to be introduced at Tokyo Metro 5 stations
Tokyo Metro announced on the 18th that it has developed a system that guides the visually impaired people safely in a station by reading a QR code on the Braille block with the camera of the smartphone and guiding the direction and distance by voice. It will be introduced at 5 stations in Tokyo from the 27th.
Mistake made in Japan’s National University exam for the visually impaired
The National Center for University Entrance Examinations announced on the 17th and 16th that there was a mistake in the question booklet prepared for the visually impaired in the public examination of the common university entrance test. There is a special question booklet with enlarged letters, and two students nationwide used it. There were no mistakes in the questions in the regular booklet.
Japanese court rules defunct eugenics law unconstitutional but denies damages
Along with the Sendai and Osaka courts, the Sapporo district court also rejected the plaintiffs’ demand for compensation, citing the statute of limitations that expired 20 years after the surgery.
Group home for intellectually disabled in Amami City destroyed by fire
A fire broke out in Amami City, Kagoshima Prefecture on the night of the 14th, and one group home was completely destroyed. At the time of the fire, there were six men with intellectual disabilities in their 50s and 60s who moved into the facility, but all of them escaped safely under the guidance of the facility staff.
Osaka Prefectural Police to encourage elderly drivers to try carless life
The Osaka prefectural police department plans to introduce a program allowing elderly drivers to experience what life without a car would be like before they actually surrender their licenses. The program will encourage elderly drivers to take public transportation or ride bicycles instead of driving a car. They will be allowed to drive while participating in the program.
Survey conducted by Japanese newspaper reveals 80% of traffic signals to aid the blind turned off due to noise complaints
A survey conducted by the Japanese newspaper The Mainichi Shimbun that more than 80% of Japan’s accessible pedestrian signals, traffic lights that also produce sounds to let pedestrians with visual impairments know when it’s safe to cross the road, have their noise-making function muted for at least part of the day, the newspaper’s survey of the country’s 47 prefectural police forces has found.
“Mobile toilet” for wheelchair users developed by Toyota, Lixil
The major automaker and leading housing equipment manufacturer developed the trailer — 5.3 meters in length, 2.5 meters in width and 2.9 meters in height — by taking into account the views of wheelchair users, welfare engineering experts and para athletes.
Coronavirus cluster found at Gifu welfare facility for people with disabilities
A total of 6 people at the welfare facility in Gifu were found to be infected, and it was certified as a cluster.
Three residents at Aichi care home for the disabled sent to hospital with “holes in the intestines”, abuse never suspected
Since September 2018, three residents have been transported from the facility as an emergency seven times in total, and all have been diagnosed with holes in the intestines, but the facility did not suspect the possibility of abuse at all.
IPC confirms “period of stay guidelines” for Tokyo Paralympics
Para athletes taking part in the postponed Tokyo Games have been asked to arrive at the Paralympic village no earlier than seven days before the start of their first event, the International Paralympic Committee said Wednesday. The IPC guidelines are almost identical to those for Olympic athletes announced by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach last week.
KyoAni suspect indicted after over half a year of psychiatric testing
The Kyoto District Public Prosecutors Office accused the suspect, aged 42, of murder and other charges, after judging that he was criminally liable at the time of the attack, from the results of a psychiatric diagnosis of him that was conducted over a half year.
Staff and users of Hyogo facility for disabled tested for potential COVID-19 cluster
On the 14th, the social welfare corporation “Kaze”, which operates the facility for the disabled “Mita Wakuwaku Village” in four locations in Sanda City, Hyogo Prefecture, said that one user of the Honmachi Office (Sanda Town, Hyogo Prefecture) was infected with the new coronavirus.
After psychiatric evaluation, Kyoto Animation arson suspect to be indicted
Prosecutors in Kyoto said on Friday that the suspect’s psychiatric analysis ended after about six months. Sources say the prosecutors have determined through the analysis that the suspect is mentally competent to be held criminally liable for the attack.
Japan’s disabled claim discrimination as train stations increasingly go unstaffed
Alarmed at the increasing number of stations without workers in his prefecture, causing inconvenience and possible safety concerns, three disabled people came together to file a lawsuit against Kyushu Railway at the Oita District Court in September.
Japan’s Self-Defense Force Nurses sent to Hokkaido facilities for people with disabilities
The nurses, who will stay for up to two weeks, started assisting medical staff at a hospital and a facility for people with disabilities, both of which have recently seen cluster infections.
Visually impaired group visits station in Tokyo after fatal platform fall
On Dec. 6, six members of the National Council of Visual Disabled in Japan and two supporters visited the scene of the accident at Toyocho Station on the Tokyo Metro Co.’s Tozai Line in the capital’s Koto Ward. The deceased is Yukio Koike, 68, a massage therapist from Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward.
Former temporary worker arrested over alleged abuse at Aichi care home for the disabled, police investigate other possible incidents
A former temporary worker at a facility for the disabled in Higashiura Town, Aichi Prefecture, was arrested on suspicion of injury for kicking the abdomen of a resident in his 50s and causing serious injury. The man subsequently died, and police are investigating whether there are multiple other residents with similar injuries.
Ibaraki Prefecture confirms 58 people at disability welfare facility has coronavirus
58 are staff and users of a support facility for persons with disabilities in Bando City, and Ibaraki prefecture says that the a cluster has occurred so far at one facility.
“We have a responsibility to explain things in detail and provide support for foreigners and those with disabilities”
Even though it takes time, we have a responsibility to explain things in detail and provide support for foreigners and those with disabilities”
