Category: Barrier Free

by Michael Gillan Peckitt March 22, 2025 1
ALS Barrier Free Disability Japan Politics Reiwa Shinsengumi

Member of Japan’s House of Councillors with ALS, Yasuhiko Funago Concerned that Reasonable Accommodations in the Diet Mistaken for “giving charity from above”

Yasuhiko Funago (67), a member of the House of Councillors of the Reiwa Shinsengumi, who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and is severely disabled, attracted a great deal of attention when he was elected for the first time in 2019. About five and a half years have passed since then, and Funago says he feels that the reasonable accommodations being promoted in the Diet for people with disabilities are being mistakenly interpreted as “giving charity from above.”

by Michael Gillan Peckitt March 12, 2025 Number of comments0
Barrier Free Japan Podcast

Saou Ichikawa’s Akutagawa Prize-Winning Novel ‘Hunchback’ Now Translated into English [Podcast Episode]

Barrier Free Japan found a copy of ‘Hunchback’ by Saou Ichikawa in the Osaka Umeda branch of Kinokuniya. Looking forward to reading this. I would love to meet Saou Ichikawa. As people with disabilities we are not meant to use terms like ‘inspires’, but as a fellow person with disabilities, she ’inspires’ me to write fiction about having a disability in Japan – Ichikawa has congenital myopathy.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt March 10, 2025 Number of comments0
Barrier Free Japan Podcast

Police Investigate Elevator Management Company After Man Dies in Kobe Elevator Accident [Podcast Episode]

On the 27th of last month, Sho Tanaka, 31, a doctor, was found collapsed in a space on the first basement floor of an elevator in a commercial building in Chuo Ward, Kobe, and later died. Before Dr. Tanaka was found, a store employee saw the elevator’s fourth floor door open with no “cage” in place.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt February 26, 2025 Number of comments0
Barrier Free Disability Human Rights Japan Prison

Disabled People International Japan Branch to Hold ‘Online Rally’ on “Prisoners with Disabilities and the Right to Use Wheelchairs”

The Japan Branch of the NPO Disabled People’ International (DPI), located in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, will hold an online rally on the theme of “Prisoners with disabilities and their right to use wheelchairs” on Saturday, April 5, 2025. The rally is being held in response to a ruling was handed down in a lawsuit seeking ‘reasonable accommodation’ in Gifu, a lawsuit concerning an alleged human rights violation in which an inmate with walking difficulties was denied wheelchair access at Gifu Prison for over 10 years. On October 30, 2024, the Gifu District Court did not recognize the denial of wheelchair access as illegal and ruled against the plaintiff.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt February 25, 2025 Number of comments0
Barrier Free Disability Japan Welfare

Tokyo Company Suspected of Violating Laws and Regulations, Introducing Users of Disabled Welfare Services for a Fee

The business is to introduce users to welfare service offices for a fee, but the operating standards based on the Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities Act prohibits the offices from giving money or goods in exchange for the introduction of users. This is because welfare for the disabled is largely financed by public funds, and taxpayers’ money is used for other purposes. The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (MHLW) has stated that “there is no law or regulation that regulates the referral business itself, but the business office that pays the money or goods is in violation of the standards,” and that it will “consider how to deal with the situation.