Japan’s Tokito Oda won gold in men’s wheelchair tennis singles at the Paris Paralympics on Saturday.
Oda, 18, defended the title that Japan’s Shingo Kunieda clinched in the previous Paralympics in Tokyo in 2021.
The victory by Oda brought Japan three gold medals and one silver medal in wheelchair tennis at the Paris Games.
A survey by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare found that 761 people with disabilities suffered abuse at work, such as unpaid wages and verbal abuse, last year, an increase of 105 from the previous year. This is thought to be due to the recovery of economic activity from COVID-19, which has increased employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
Founded in 1988 as a developer of motorcycle engines and parts, the company switched to the wheelchair business in 1995. It has a factory at its head office that manufactures wheelchairs for competitive sports.
On the 10th day of the quadrennial sporting event, Kamiji defeated Diede De Groot of the Netherlands in the final, winning the first gold medal for Japan in this category.
In early May 2024 it was reported how, as the employment rate for people with disabilities rose in April 2024, the number of businesses providing work opportunities to people with disabilities on behalf of companies is expanding. However, it is becoming clear that many businesses, but seemingly especially farms, use agencies to hire people with disabilities, without giving them actual work to do; one employee who had a disability was told “coming to the farm is your job.”
Yui Kamiji and Manami Tanaka brought Japan its first gold medal in women’s Paralympic tennis by winning the doubles event at the Paris Games on Thursday.
The Disability Policy Promotion Council, which is made up of people with disabilities and academic experts, met in Niigata City to exchange opinions on the policies being implemented by the prefecture. Seventeen people attended the meeting of the Disability Policy Promotion Council, and the results of a questionnaire survey conducted by the prefecture last year targeting people with disabilities were announced. 373 people with disabilities living in the prefecture responded to the survey, and 115 people, or 30.8%, answered that they had been discriminated against or had a bad experience.
Through the body, the ministry hopes to back cooperation between local governments and transport business operators, in order to secure new means of transportation, including through the expansion of ride-hailing services in which individuals use private vehicles to offer paid rides. More specifically, the body will aim to create frameworks for joint taxi operations by multiple companies and for smooth taxi dispatch to train stations and nearby.
Japan on Tuesday defeated powerhouse South Korea on the first day of mixed gender boccia events at the Paris Paralympics to advance to the BC1\BC2 quarterfinals.
The team got off to a three-point lead in the three-a-side wheelchair event before the South Koreans briefly recovered to tie the match, only for Japan to score two more times to win 5-3 at South Paris Arena.
Japan won its first Paralympic gold medal in wheelchair rugby Monday after seeing off the United States 48-41 in Paris, with the nation adding two badminton gold on the day to make it five total at the ongoing games.
The Chunichi Shimbun reported that on August 30th, businessman Hiroyuki Nishimura (47), known as “Hiroyuki”, updated his X (formerly Twitter), giving his personal opinion regarding Nippon Television’s “24-hour TV”, which began its broadcast on August 31st.
Posting about the Paralympics, “Hiroyuki” said:
“If they’re going to deal with people with disabilities on 24-hour TV, they should broadcast the Paralympics…”, referring to the Paris Paralympics that began on the 28th.
Barrier Free Japan