Category: Disability

by Michael Gillan Peckitt December 19, 2025 Number of comments0
Disability Japan Welfare

Japan Govt to set cap on number of ‘retained workers’ used to calculate disability employment subsidies following excessive payments

Japan’s health ministry is planning to introduce a cap, possibly as early as next fiscal year, on the number of “retained workers” that can be counted when calculating additional payments for disability employment support, following allegations of large-scale overpayments in Osaka City. The move comes after three Type A continuous employment support facilities allegedly cycled users through repeated six-month employment periods and reported around 200 retained workers per year—despite each facility having a capacity of only 20 users—resulting in suspected excess subsidies of more than ¥2 billion.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt December 18, 2025 Number of comments0
Disability Japan Mental Health Osaka Building Arson

Victims of 2021 Osaka Clinic Arson Attack Remembered

Victims of an arson attack on a psychosomatic clinic in Osaka were remembered on Wednesday, the fourth anniversary of the 2021 incident that killed 26 people including clinic head Kotaro Nishizawa, then 49. In front of the building that housed the clinic, people related to the victims gathered and prayed for them.  Nishizawa’s younger sister, Nobuko, 48, arrived at the building shortly after 9 a.m. She made offerings including tea, lit incense sticks and recited a sutra for some 10 minutes.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt December 17, 2025 Number of comments0
Disability Japan Mental Health Osaka Building Arson

4 Years On, Osaka Arson Victim’s Sister Helps Rehabilitate Inmates

Four years after a deadly arson attack on a psychosomatic clinic in the western Japan city of Osaka, the sister of the clinic’s then 49-year-old director is helping rehabilitate inmates, as well as people suffering from drug addiction. Nobuko Nishizawa, 48, whose brother, Kotaro, was among the 26 victims of the Dec. 17, 2021, attack, began meeting with inmates this year.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt December 17, 2025 Number of comments0
Disability Japan Podcast Welfare

Man Disabled in Bear Cull Shooting; Yamagata Town Seeks Damages from Hunter [Podcast Episode]

In April two years ago, in Oguni Town, Yamagata Prefecture, a bullet fired by a hunter engaged in a bear extermination operation struck another man in the leg, causing serious injuries that resulted in permanent aftereffects. The injured man has filed a lawsuit against the town, seeking approximately 30 million yen in damages.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt December 16, 2025 Number of comments0
Art Disability Japan Writing

Debut author Saou Ichikawa enters global spotlight with “Hunchback”

“Hunchback,” a novel by Japanese author Saou Ichikawa, is rapidly gaining international recognition, earning nominations for several major Western literary awards despite being the writer’s first published book. Ichikawa, who relies on a ventilator and electric wheelchair due to an incurable congenital muscle disorder, has drawn praise from critics who describe the novel’s global rise as an “unprecedented achievement.”

by Michael Gillan Peckitt December 15, 2025 Number of comments0
Disability Japan Mental Health Podcast

On Loneliness and Isolation in Japan [Podcast Episode]

Almost half of Japanese nationals feel familiar with loneliness and isolation, a government survey showed Friday. According to the Cabinet Office’s first public opinion survey on the issue, 48.4% of respondents answered they feel “familiar” or “rather familiar” with such feelings, while 49.6% chose “not familiar” or “rather do not feel it.” The remaining 2.0% did not answer.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt December 12, 2025 Number of comments0
Disability Employment Japan Welfare

Osaka City Seeks Review of Disability Employment Add-On System

According to the city, the three offices, linked to welfare services firm Kizuna Holdings, reported around 200 such workers annually for fiscal 2024 and 2025 by repeatedly placing service users in regular employment as in-house staff for six months before returning them to beneficiary status. The offices received several billion yen in add-on payments based on these figures, prompting the city to launch an audit. A separate Osaka Prefecture survey of Type-A offices found an average of just 1.3 people per office who remained in regular employment for six months or longer in fiscal 2024.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt December 12, 2025 Number of comments0
Care Disability Discrimination Japan Podcast Tokyo

Half of the People with Disabilities Living in Facilities Sent to “out-of-Tokyo facilities” [Podcast Episode]

Aikawa Shinseien, a remote facility in Akita Prefecture housing nearly 90 intellectually disabled people sent from Tokyo, illustrates the long-standing practice of placing disabled residents far from their home communities due to Tokyo’s high land prices and neighborhood resistance to disability facilities, with some locals claiming such facilities would “damage the image” of the area. Many residents have lived there for decades, seldom see their families, and feel trapped, one 65-year-old man, who has lived there since the facility opened, says poignantly, “I don’t want to end my life here.” As parents age and die and “out-of-Tokyo facilities” continue to fill in replacements, some question what a truly inclusive living environment for disabled people should look like.