Oita Court Rejects Disabled People’s Claim over Unmanned Stations

From Jiji

April 23 2026

OITA – A district court in southwestern Japan on Thursday dismissed a damages claim by people with disabilities who said that the unmanned operations of stations by Kyushu Railway Co., or JR Kyushu, violated their freedom of movement. 
   “It cannot be acknowledged that there was unfair and discriminatory treatment” on the grounds of disability in operating stations without staff, Oita District Court Presiding Judge Mina Tomita said, rejecting the claim for damages totaling 660,000 yen against JR Kyushu. The plaintiffs are six people with disabilities from the southwestern prefecture of Oita.
   It was the first lawsuit in Japan to take up the issue of whether unmanned station operations constitute discrimination against people with disabilities. At the trial, the major focus was on whether such operations infringe the principle of equality stipulated in Article 14 of the Constitution.
   Unmanned station operations require passengers with disabilities to contact railway staff in advance and “cause a difference in the use of stations between passengers with and without disabilities,” Tomita said. Given the current situation, including a population decline, “it cannot be said that a management decision to operate stations without staff was unreasonable, and therefore it was unavoidable,” the presiding judge added.
   It has to be concluded that maintaining staff allocations would impose an excessive burden on JR Kyushu, Tomita also said.