Japan to re-design disability certificates as ‘ID card’ type

Written with extracts from The Yomiuri Shimbun 

March 31st 2019

The certificate or ‘notebook’ given to persons with disabilities at the discretion of the local government will be a different card type than previously by the Japanese Government after April 1st 2019 . It will be easy to carry in the same size as your driver’s license and credit card.

The Disability notebook and the Mental Health & Welfare notebook, which are updated every two years, will be issued on the card. The notebook describes the name and the degree of disability, etc., and is used for official certification, and may allow for discounts on public transportation. The traditional notebook was about 10 centimeters high by 7 centimeters wide, and there were voices calling for improvements such as “big enough to fit in the wallet.”

The cards are made of plastic and are stronger than paper notebooks. It is also necessary to prepare the local government for system improvement, and it is expected that the the notebooks will take several weeks to be actually be issued.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, as of March 2018,  approximately 5.11 million have the physical disability notebook, approximately 990,000 have the mental health and welfare notebook .