“I Don’t Want to End My Life Here”: Half of the Disabled People Living in Facilities Sent Outside Tokyo

From The Asahi Shimbun

December 8 2025

Kita-Akita City, Akita Pref – Kita-Akita City in Akita Prefecture lies about 500 kilometers from central Tokyo. In this mountainous area—where rice fields, orchards, and golf courses are scattered and cars pass only occasionally—stands Aikawa Shinseien, a residential facility. On its roughly 4,000-square-meter grounds, the facility has space for 100 residents; 89 intellectually disabled people from Tokyo live there.

Kunihiro So (59), who has a severe intellectual disability, came from Tokyo’s Arakawa Ward in 1987. His mother told him, “We’ve found a good facility,” but he says he didn’t even know where Akita Prefecture was.

His parents stopped visiting more than 20 years ago. His father has since passed away, and his mother now has dementia. Once a year he travels to Tokyo with facility staff to see his younger brother and his brother’s family.

Atsushi Yano (65), who used to live in Suginami Ward, has been at the facility since it opened 45 years ago. “I really wanted to get married, but I guess I’ve gotten old. I want to leave and see the outside world. I don’t want to live out my entire life here.”

According to the facility, the average length of stay exceeds 20 years. In the past year, three residents died of illness, and three new Tokyo residents entered in their place. Many parents have grown old and passed away, and currently only about 10–20% of residents see their families more than once a year.

“Out-of-Tokyo Facilities” Built Across Tōhoku

Aikawa Shinseien is one of the “out-of-Tokyo facilities” built on condition that 90% of the residents be accepted from Tokyo, with construction subsidized by the Tokyo metropolitan government. From the late 1960s to the late 1990s, many such facilities were built across the Tōhoku region. Behind this were the soaring price of land in Tokyo and opposition from local residents, who argued that building disability facilities would “hurt the image of the neighborhood.” Local governments in rural areas were also motivated by the opportunity to increase employment.

While Tokyo publicly upholds the ideal of “creating an inclusive society where all Tokyo residents live together,” it has long relied on other prefectures to house disabled people.

As efforts toward “community inclusion” advance, we must reflect on what living environments for disabled people ought to be.