Taro Igarashi is the author of “Kabobi Toshi” or “Overprotective city” published 20 years ago and in a recent interview with The Asahi Shimbun Igarashi warns how phenomena such as ‘hostile benches’ – benches, often installed in public parks that are uncomfortable to sit on – are designed in way to discourage people from using them, that they have an “exclusionary purpose” which “has long been forgotten.”
Japan is a country of some 125.1 million people, approximately 13.96 million of whom live in Tokyo. Space is at a premium, so where there is space it will be used, even if; as Taro Igarashi, a professor of architectural history and theory at the graduate school of Tohoku University points out, how it is used excludes vulnerable members of society.
Following a health scandal involving its “beni koji” dietary supplement products, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co. said on Friday that it will withdraw from the 2025 World Expo in Osaka. The company had been preparing to sponsor a healthcare pavilion to be run by the prefecture and city of Osaka and others and also planning to run its own booth.
Japan is seeing a spread of so-called welfare nail services, or nail stylists dispatched to welfare and other facilities giving manicures to elderly or disabled people.
The number of certified providers of such services, known as “welfare nailists,” has grown 3.5-fold over years, according to a training organization.
Two recent court proceedings in Japan have involved claims about the accused’s mental health: an appeal of nurse with autism whom was found guilty of murdering three patients and the man charged with killing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Tokyo High Court upheld a lower court ruling on Wednesday that sentenced a 37-year-old former nurse to an indefinite prison term for murdering three patients at a hospital in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, in 2016.
Presiding Judge Toru Miura, noting that the defendant, Ayumi Kuboki, had autistic spectrum disorder at the time, said, “The anxiety and fear she felt during nursing work were so great that she felt physically unwell.”
A psychiatric evaluation of the man accused of fatally shooting former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has determined him mentally fit to be held criminally responsible for his actions, sources close to the matter said Wednesday.
The defense for Tetsuya Yamagami did not contest the results of the evaluation, which had been conducted at the request of prosecutors, and effectively deferred a request for another evaluation, the sources said.
Obesity increased among junior high school students in Japan in fiscal 2020 to 2022, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a study by the National Center for Child Health and Development has shown.
The study analyzed the health checkup data of about 186,000 people who graduated from junior high school between fiscal 2020 and 2022 and compared the results with predicated figures based on such data of about 210,000 people who graduated in fiscal 2019 or earlier, before the pandemic.
“[A]ccording to a survey conducted by the Consumer Affairs Agency and others, fatal accidents involving escalators were recorded at least seven times from June 2004 through March 2024.The Japan Elevator Association reported the number of accidents involving escalators was 1,550 during the two years from 2018 to 2019, which is two times higher than the number 15 years ago.”
Japanese Princess Kako watched a dance event for people with disabilities held at Tokyo Gymnasium on Sunday. At the beginning of the event, the princess, the second daughter of Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, waved to performers with a smile, with pompoms in her hands, to the music of “Matsuken Samba II,” and applauded after the song ended.
Barrier Free Japan