Japan’s public-sector procurement of goods and services from facilities employing people with disabilities reached a record high in fiscal 2024, the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry said, reflecting growing use of the priority procurement system aimed at promoting the economic independence of people with disabilities.
No news on ‘Coming of Age Day!’ ‘Sign Language Link’ is provided by the Japan Foundation Telephone Relay Service, a general incorporated foundation based in Tokyo. When police officers leave a kōban or a residential police post, they put up a notice indicating their absence. By scanning the QR code on this notice with a smartphone or other device, users are connected to a video call, initiating a three-way conversation between the user, a sign language interpreter, and an officer at the police station.
Sign Language Link is provided by the Japan Foundation Telephone Relay Service, a general incorporated foundation based in Tokyo. When police officers leave a kōban or a residential police post, they put up a notice indicating their absence. By scanning the QR code on this notice with a smartphone or other device, users are connected to a video call, initiating a three-way conversation between the user, a sign language interpreter, and an officer at the police station.
According to the JMA, a low pressure system with a front in the Sea of Japan is rapidly developing, passing near Hokkaido and moving toward the Sea of Okhotsk. The front will pass from western Japan to northern Japan. A strong winter pressure pattern with high pressure in the west and low pressure in the east is expected, bringing strong cold air masses into the upper atmosphere. Atmospheric conditions will become extremely unstable. Maximum wind speeds (maximum instantaneous wind speeds) expected on the 11th are 25 meters (35 meters) in Hokkaido and 20 meters (30 meters) in Tohoku.
A Japanese district court on Friday ordered the government to pay 1.1 million yen in damages to the mother of a Ground Self-Defense Force member who committed suicide in 2012. They claimed that Kawashima, who was stationed at the GSDF’s Camp Shiraoi in the Hokkaido town of Shiraoi, took his life as appropriate measures were not taken against bullying mainly by one older officer.
A man was found dead with massive bleeding at an apartment in Tokyo’s Ota Ward on Thursday morning. The Metropolitan Police Department found stab wounds to the neck, abdomen, thighs and other parts of the body of the victim, who is believed to be the apartment’s resident in his 40s. Police also discovered several bloody footprints at the scene.
It was learned on January 6th that the medical corporation foundation “Aoyama-kai” has decided to end two disability consultation support services under contract with the city at the end of March and has notified the city. The relationship of trust with the city was damaged by Mayor Kaichi Deguchi’s social media posts during last year’s mayoral election and the subsequent response, and the foundation has decided that continuing the services any longer is difficult.
It was learned on the 6th that the medical corporation foundation “Aoyama-kai” has decided to end two disability consultation support services under contract with the city at the end of March and has notified the city. The relationship of trust with the city was damaged by Mayor Kaichi Deguchi’s social media posts during last year’s mayoral election and the subsequent response, and the foundation has decided that continuing the services any longer is difficult. The city is considering countermeasures for April and beyond to avoid impacting users.
In connection with the national disability pension system, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced on the 6th that it has started a fact-finding investigation, including checking remaining records, following revelations that the Japan Pension Service had discarded some physicians’ assessment results used to determine eligibility for benefit payments.
A Shindo 5, Magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurred at 10:18AM on Tuesday 6th January 2026, the epicentre was Shimane prefecture and registered in most of western Japan, including here in Kobe. And yes, could ‘religious folk’ please stop approaching and grabbing Barrier Free Japan’s arm?
Barrier Free Japan