Japan Cabinet Office Posts Unsubstantiated Video, Deletes It After Social Media Backlash

From Kyodo via Yahoo! Japan

December 25 2025

TOKYO – It has been learned that in an awareness-raising video released by the Cabinet Office to coincide with this year’s Disability Awareness Week (December 3–9), the government introduced claims, without scientific evidence, that sign language leads to brain activation and improved memory. The video was removed after a wave of criticism on social media, where many said it showed a lack of understanding that sign language is an indispensable means of communication for people who are deaf. Officials revealed this on the 25th.

Each year, the Cabinet Office solicits videos for publication on its official website. This year, seven submissions were received, and after reviewing their expression and factual accuracy, the Cabinet Office judged that all could be published without issue.

The video, titled “Connecting with the World Without Sound,” was produced by a Tokyo-based organization promoting the spread of sign language. In it, the group’s representatives explained that “watching the movements of sign language improves concentration and judgment” and that “because it involves moving the fingers, it makes the hands more dexterous.”

Within the government, however, no causal relationship has been confirmed between sign language and brain activation or improved memory. Immediately after the video was released on the 3rd, criticism spread on social media, with comments such as “there is a lack of recognition that sign language is a ‘language’ for deaf people” and “this is from an able-bodied perspective.” The Cabinet Office withdrew the video on the 5th.