S2, a Japanese server company, said Friday it will launch an elderly professional e-sports team, the first of its kind in Japan. The members of the team will all be residents of Akita Prefecture, northeastern Japan, aged 65 or older. They will be called Matagi Snipers, after “matagi” Japanese traditional hunters.
Regarding the infections, the Shizuoka Municipal Government on June 16 apologized for and withdrew comments it had made the previous day that weakened immune systems after inoculations were responsible for the coronavirus cluster at the nursing home.
Japanese athletes competing in this summer’s Tokyo Paralympics started receiving COVID-19 vaccine shots on Thursday.
Those who received shots Thursday included Junichi Kawai, president of the Japanese Paralympic Committee and chief of the Japanese delegation for the Tokyo Paralympics.
All 1,741 municipalities in the country expect to complete inoculating residents aged 65 and older by the end of next month, said the sources who reviewed a government survey on the matter.
The Osaka District Public Prosecutor’s Office is collaborating with the Osaka Prefectural Police Department. The focus concerns victims of sex crimes with intellectual, and a senior prosecutor said, “The characteristics and degree of disability vary from person to person. We are carefully considering what method is appropriate.”
The trial in a murder case in which an elderly mother, who lived alone with her daughter who had a severe intellectual disability, began at the Tsu District Court on June 7th.
The event, which is separate from the coming-of-age ceremony organized by the city, has been held every year for the past six years by a group of parents of children with disabilities.
A survey found that four cities — including Sakai, Osaka Prefecture — have administered a first shot to over 50% of their populations, while another 14 cities — including Yamaguchi — have cleared the 40% threshold. Rounding out the bottom of the list were 15 municipalities where fewer than 20% of elderly residents had received their first shot.
A just-enacted law in Japan to support children who need daily medical care and their families has laid bare the hardships such children face in entering the education system, including admission to nurseries and primary schools — something the rest of society takes for granted.
In order to make it easier for people with disabilities to use the system, a council made up of 69 railway and bus operators in the Kanto region and elsewhere has announced that from the second half of next year people will be able to use Suica and PASMO to receive discounts without having to show their disability certificate.
The training camp, which is being held at a facility in Tomi City, Nagano Prefecture, at an altitude of 1,750 meters, includes seven athletes who have been selected to represent Japan in the para-athletics class for intellectual disabilities.
The Japanese government has decided to improve the provision of information on noninvasive prenatal genetic testing (NIPT), which examines pregnant women’s blood to determine the risk of chromosomal abnormalities in fetuses.
The decision has come about due to factors including births at advanced maternal ages driving up need for testing, but concern is growing among people with Down syndrome and their families that depending on how the information is conveyed, it could lead to “selection of life” practices and perpetuate prejudice.
On 28 May, the revised Disability Discrimination Act was unanimously passed by the House of Councillors at a plenary session, requiring private companies to provide “reasonable accommodation” to support the mobility and communication of people with disabilities. The government will now consider the fundamental policy based on the revised law and make a cabinet decision.
Visually impaired people in Japan are struggling to book COVID-19 vaccinations, as they are often unable to recognize promptly the arrival of a vaccination voucher.
COVID-19 vaccinations for residents of Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures aged 65 or over began Monday at the Osaka mass vaccination site operated by Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, a move that brought the number of prefectures covered by SDF-run vaccination venues to seven.
The trial in a murder case in which an elderly mother, who lived alone with her daughter who had a severe intellectual disability, will begin at the Tsu District Court on June 7th.
While basic costs for dealing with the novel coronavirus are being subsidized by the government, additional measures required to ensure safe transportation and accommodation of disabled athletes are not.
A deaf man, 33, living in Nagoya City, who was infected with the new coronavirus and requested hotel treatment, was rejected by Aichi Prefecture, saying it was difficult for him to communicate by telephone. The ‘All Japan Federation of the Deaf’ submitted a request for improvement to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and the ministry will consider asking local governments not to exclude hearing-impaired people from hotel treatment.
Performed by actors with disabilities from Japan, Britain and Bangladesh, the play is being staged in Higashi-Ikebukuro, Tokyo. The work, created by overcoming the “tempests” of disability, language and distance, conveys the importance of accepting each other’s differences and living together.
“Sports venues are places where people with and without disabilities can come together and enjoy [an event],” Yukishita said. “I want the Games to be the catalyst to bring about change, so people with disabilities will feel more comfortable going out more often.”
A private-sector survey has shown that 63 pct of the elderly prefer using the telephone to book their COVID-19 vaccinations while 37 pct like the internet and the Line messaging app better.
The World Grand Prix, an international five-player soccer tournament for the visually impaired, opened at Tennozu Park in Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo on May 30th, where the Japanese men’s team beat France 1-0. Japan’s team has qualified to participate in the Tokyo Paralympics.
Norifumi Gogo, a man with paralysis in all four limbs, who promoted the independence of people with disabilities and held lectures at companies and schools to boost understanding of such individuals; was fatally hit by a car in the southwest Japan city of Kitakyushu in February. Gogo, aged 46 at the time, was hit by a van at an intersection on National Route No. 3 in Kitakyushu’s Kokurakita Ward at around 10:35 a.m. on Feb. 26.
The revisions to Law for the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities were unanimously passed and enacted at the plenary session of the House of Councillors on May 28, requiring private businesses such as companies and stores to provide “reasonable accommodation” to support the mobility and communication of persons with disabilities.
Doctor Takahiro Ueda made all-out efforts to save the life of the suspect of a deadly arson attack on a Kyoto Animation Co. studio in 2019, as he hoped to help uncover the truth behind the crime. “All I was thinking about was to save his life,” Ueda, 49, said in an interview with Jiji Press.
The coronavirus vaccine rollout in Japan has been focusing on senior citizens. But recently there are growing calls for childcare givers to be offered priority inoculations.
The Sapporo metropolitan government announced that cluster was confirmed at a welfare service office for the disabled, where six people were infected, including four employees and two clients.
The social welfare corporation ‘Imizu Fukushi Kai’, which runs Imizu-en, a facility for those with mental disabilities in Toyama Prefecture’s Imizu City where a cluster of the new coronavirus has emerged, announced on the 23rd that a total of 60 users and employees had been infected in one day.
According to the Japan Association of Psychiatric Hospitals, from March last year to January this year, a total of 1,548 people, including 1,123 patients and 425 staff members, were infected at 116 facilities nationwide. Of these, about 60% wanted to be transferred to coronavirus beds but were unable to do so, mostly because of mental disorders, according to the association.
Japanese ruling and opposition parties on Thursday 20th May agreed to enact a new law to allow COVID-19 patients recovering in hotels or at home to vote by mail in national and local elections. COVID-19 patients and people who had close contact with them are required to stay in hotels or at home while they recover. It is difficult for them to visit polling stations.
In April, the app “shikAI” that supports the movement of visually impaired people about 200 meters between the exit of Tokyo Metro Higashi-Ikebukuro Station (Higashi-Ikebukuro 4) and the ward office (Minami-Ikebukuro 2) “started to provide voice route guidance.”
While the vaccination program for elderly people aged 65 and over has started in Aizuwakamatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture, a blind man living alone in the city received an envelope containing a vaccination ticket without Braille markings, and it was revealed that he was unable to check the contents for two weeks.
Fifty companies from Japan are participating, including Kao Corporation, Suntory Holdings Limited, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Limited and the Tokyo headquarters of the Yomiuri Shimbun.
Masakatsu Amami (71), a patient with cerebral palsy in Chiba City, said that it was unreasonable that the disability welfare benefits based on the Comprehensive Support Law for Persons with Disabilities were discontinued at the age of 65 and that the transition to long-term care insurance caused self-pay. On the 18th, the Chiba District Court dismissed the claim.
“When I think about the feelings of athletes, I want the games to be held, but I also see difficulties,” said Takaaki Aoki, a 58-year-old specially appointed associate professor at the Department of Orthopedic Surgery of Gifu University School of Medicine.
A joint project team of Japan’s welfare and education ministries has drawn up measures to support young carers, or children under 18 who look after family members, including those in poor health. It will be the first time for the Japanese government to adopt support measures for young carers.
“…we need to bring back persons with disabilities to the center of the inclusion agenda. We want to change the behavior of society towards persons with disabilities at a global level,” he said. “We are very ambitious. We want the games to change the world.”
The Tokyo metropolitan government and others celebrated the 100-day countdown to the Aug. 24 opening of the Tokyo Paralympic Games on Sunday.
“We’ll make preparations to realize safe and secure games so that the event will be a light of hope,” Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said at a ceremony to mark the countdown.
Shigeyuki Miwa, 61, is a doctor at a hospital in the town of Tsuwano who administers vaccinations to local elderly people. His second daughter, Junko Hirose, a 30-year-old visually impaired judo athlete, is slated to represent Japan at the Tokyo Paralympics this summer. Miwa has inoculated some 2,400 people since late April, working even on the day before the relay.
According to the Kanagawa prefectural government, in February of this year, it was confirmed that twenty-two users of the Nakai Yamayurien facility for the disabled were physically restrained for more than eight hours, including being kept in locked rooms and tied to wheelchairs.
Speaking to AFP, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president said stringent virus countermeasures will keep athletes and the Japanese public safe.
Former International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Sir Philip Craven called Group B “the pool of death” after the men’s wheelchair basketball draw for Tokyo 2020 was completed.
Two doctors who were arrested and charged with killing Yuri Hayashi, a woman living in Kyoto who had contracted ALS by administering drugs at her request have been re-arrested for the murder of the father of one of the doctors, who died 10 years ago, according to interviews with investigators.
The Japanese government intends to make residential care facilities a form of “living place” and promote the transition of residents to the community and the use of private rooms.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga pledged Monday to speed up the vaccination of the country’s elderly population against the novel coronavirus, which began in earnest on the day.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) analyzed the number of cases of abuse of people with disabilities for the past five years through fiscal year 2019 for the first time. The national average rate of recognition of abuse by employees of facilities for the disabled is 20%, with Miyazaki having the highest rate at 32%. The lowest rate was 6% in both Ibaraki and Gifu, a difference of 26 percentage points.
The mayor of Aomori City, Akihiko Onodera, has instructed that vaccinations facilities for people with disabilities and child welfare facilities be expedited in parallel with vaccinations for elderly people’s facilities.
A cluster of people infected with the new coronavirus has broken out at a facility for people with disabilities in Saitama Prefecture, and the prefectural government is investigating the route of infection.
According to city officials and others, on April 11, two residents developed fever and were found to be positive in a PCR test. Subsequently, the infection spread within the facility, and 39 residents and 22 staff members were confirmed to be infected. Fourteen people died, including a resident who was recuperating at the facility because he could not find a place to be hospitalized.
