Kyoto based newspaper that highlighted disability issues ceases printing after 50 years

Written with extracts translated from The Kyoto Shimbun via Yahoo! Japan

May 22 2020

The ‘Kyoto Welfare Shimbun’, a monthly newspaper published for fifty years that highlihted issues concerning people with disabilities printed its last edition in March.

First published in November 1970 by the Kyoto Social Welfare Research Group, which is made up of psychiatrists, researchers, and welfare personnel, the ‘Kyoto Welfare Shimbun’ printed its last edition in March.

The ‘Kyoto Welfare Shimbun’ published articles that aimed to eliminate prejudice against illnesses and disabilities, as well as manga, haiku, and essays for and about people who tend to be isolated, and valued paper-based interaction but it had “become difficult to continue in the conventional form”.

The editor, Mr Noji said: “I’m sorry to discontinue the publication because it is expected that more people will lose their mental health with the spread of the new coronavirus, but my physical strength is limited.”

Back issues of the ‘Kyoto Welfare Shimbun’ can be viewed at the Kyoto Institute, Library and Archives, Kyoto Prefectural University in Sakyo Ward, Kyoto.