Of the 3,142 facilities surveyed from August to October, 84.2 percent said they are facing staff shortages ranging from severe to slight, with many citing increased burdens on workers and declining service quality as a result, Kyosaren said.
Nagasaki Prefecture reported a record 3,961 people with disabilities employed at private companies as of June 1, 2025, up 125 from the previous year, according to figures released by the Nagasaki Labour Bureau on Dec. 19. The prefecture’s disabled employment rate stood at 2.84 percent, 0.43 percentage points above the national average and the fifth highest in the country. The share of companies meeting the government-mandated statutory employment rate of 2.5 percent rose to 58.2 percent, up 0.8 points from a year earlier. By industry, employment was highest in medical and welfare services at 3.56 percent, followed by compound services and lifestyle-related services and entertainment.
Japanese Princess Kako, the second daughter of Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, turned 31 on Monday 29th December. As an adult member of the Imperial Family, Princess Kako has performed various official duties at home and abroad this year, while working twice a week since April 2024 at the Japanese Federation of the Deaf, which she joined as a part-time employee in 2021. As this year marked the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II, she has an even stronger wish for peace after studying stories of the war again and feeling anew the importance of thinking about the suffering caused by conflicts around the world, according to the Imperial Household Agency.
Cases of abuse against people with disabilities in Japan reached a record high of 3,770 in fiscal 2024, the welfare ministry said Tuesday 23rd December, citing an increase in consultations and reports to local governments. The total, confirmed by prefectural and municipal authorities, rose by 293 from the previous year, the ministry said.
It was revealed on the 28th through interviews with stakeholders that the Japan Pension Service, which handles the administration of national disability pensions, has been secretly discarding evaluation records and requesting new rulings from different doctors whenever staff members deemed the original doctor’s decision on benefit eligibility to be “problematic.” The Pension Service admitted to this practice during interviews, stating they are “currently investigating the facts, including the number of cases involved.”
Saying the practice “left neglected without due consideration” and a case of “following precedent,” the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology expressed remorse for long excluding graduates of special needs schools from the School Basic Survey, saying the practice dates back at least to the 1970s, though a review based on interviews with 1980s-era officials failed to clarify how the method was adopted. Education Minister Yohei Matsumoto apologized publicly, bowing before cameras, as the ministry moved to swiftly revise the survey within a month of the issue surfacing amid anger from those affected.
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. 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.
The number of new influenza patients in Japan remained above the warning level of 30 per medical institution last week, the health ministry said Friday. New flu cases reported by 3,000 regularly monitored hospitals and clinics across the country stood at 32.73 on average in the week through Sunday.
Cases of abuse against people with disabilities in Japan reached a record high of 3,770 in fiscal 2024, the welfare ministry said Tuesday, citing an increase in consultations and reports to local governments. The total, confirmed by prefectural and municipal authorities, rose by 293 from the previous year, the ministry said.
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is considering adding Japanese language proficiency as a requirement for permanent residency for foreigners, sources familiar with the matter said Friday. To obtain the status, foreigners will also be mandated to take a program aimed at helping them smoothly integrate into local communities, the sources said. The envisaged new requirements will be included in a draft package of proposals on policy for foreign nationals, to be compiled next month for submission to the government.
Barrier Free Japan