Category: Disability

Disability Human Rights Japan

‘Sagamihara Massacre’ municipal government to introduce human rights ordinance with penalties including fines

The preamble to the draft report mentions the 2016 massacre at care home Tsukui Yamayuri En, where 45 people were killed or injured in the city, and states that it was a “hate crime based on unreasonable discriminatory thinking toward people with disabilities.” It also mentions the establishment of a “human rights commission,” a relief organization for victims.

Disability Hikikomori Japan Podcast

Disability News Japan Podcast: Are Japan’s Hikikomori Unwell, Disabled or None of the Above?

An estimated 20,000 people between 40 and 64 in Yokohama, who have no illness or disability, have mostly stopped going out for at least six months, according to a survey by the city government.

In the survey, nearly 40% of those residents who are in a state of “hikikomori,” or social reclusion, said their condition began when they started avoiding leaving home amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Disability Japan Podcast Technology

Microsoft 365 Outage & Disability News in Japan Getting ‘Lost in Translation’

When Japanese news outlets reported the problems with software like Microsoft Teams, they used the term “障害”, and since the same term is often used to refer to a news story about disability issues, it was difficult to find news about people with disabilities in Japan, as any Google search with the term “障害”only returned results to do with the Microsoft 365 outage.

Disability Employment Japan Podcast

Disability News Japan Podcast: After a Snowstorm in Japan & Fukushima’s Disability Employment Rate Woes

The rate of employment of people with disabilities, which companies are obliged to increase the employment of people with disabilities, reached the highest level in the prefecture last year, but nearly 30% of companies do not employ even one person, NHK found out in a summary by the Fukushima labor bureau.

Disability Employment Japan

Rate of employment of people with disabilities in Fukushima at its highest despite nearly 30% of companies not employing any disabled

According to the Fukushima Labor Bureau, as of June 1, last year, the employment rate of target companies in the prefecture was 2.19% as a whole, an increase of 0.04 points from the previous year, the highest ever. It was 0.06 points below the average of 2.25%.

Only 825 companies, or 54.3% of the target companies, achieved the legal employment rate of 2.3%, which is required by law for private companies.

Disability Forced Sterilization Japan Kumamoto

Kumamoto Court Orders National Japanese Government to Pay Damages over Forced Sterilization

A southwestern Japan court ordered the national government on Monday to pay a total of 22 million yen in damages over the forced sterilization of two people under the now-defunct eugenic protection law.

Kumamoto District Court, presided over by Judge Yuichiro Nakatsuji, found that the law was unconstitutional, and denied the application to the case of the 20-year statute of limitations on compensation claims.

Disability Japan Para Sports Paralympics Podcast

Disability News Japan Podcast: Japan’s Shingo Kunieda, World Number One Wheelchair Tennis Player Retires

The 38-year-old Kunieda, a winner of 28 Grand Slam titles and three Paralympic gold medals in the men’s singles, retired while at the top of the world rankings.

He won his third Paralympic gold in Tokyo in 2021 and completed his career Grand Slam by winning Wimbledon last year. He also won 22 Grand Slam doubles titles.