Nissan Motor Co. said Friday that it will test a transportation service using self-driving vehicles in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, for two months beginning Nov. 27. The company aims to launch an autonomous mobility service without drivers in 2027 or later.
On September 26th, Kagoshima City took administrative action to revoke the disability welfare service designation of the “Employment Support Center Shichifukujin” (Takashi 2-chome), a Type B Continuing Employment Support Facility operated by the Social Welfare Corporation Tenyukai (Director: Yurika Nagata) in Murasakihara 5-chome, for fraudulently claiming training and other benefits. The city also ordered the repayment of 25,176,250 yen fraudulently claimed and received, plus additional payments totaling 35,240,631 yen. The revocation of the designation will take effect on September 30th.
An elderly woman was stabbed at an apartment in Machida, Tokyo, on Tuesday evening and died shortly after being transported to hospital. The victim, Chizuko Akie, a 76-year-old resident of the apartment, was stabbed several times in the stomach and other parts of her body, according to the police. The incident occurred around 7:10 p.m. Tuesday.
Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako have visited a school for people with visual impairment in Shiga Prefecture, western Japan.
The school is the prefecture’s only institution specializing in education for visually impaired students.
Tokyo police have arrested four people on suspicion of robbing and abusing a man in his 40s with a mild intellectual disability after forcing him to drink large amounts of whisky, the Metropolitan Police Department said Sept. 26. The suspects — a 22-year-old company worker from Shizuoka Prefecture, a 24-year-old woman from Tokyo, a 21-year-old university student from Hokkaido, and a 19-year-old male restaurant worker — allegedly met the victim through social media and conspired to exploit his condition. Police said the four made the man drink over 700 milliliters of whisky in Tokyo’s Nakano Ward in June, stole his smartphone and used about 100,000 yen in electronic money. They also filmed the incident, which included acts of sexual humiliation, and later abandoned the victim near his home and again in Shizuoka Prefecture. All four have admitted to the allegations, according to the police.
Saou Ichikawa was born in 1979. Diagnosed in childhood with congenital myopathy, a rare disease that causes muscle weakness, and has used a ventilator since age 14. Ichikawa graduated in March 2023 from Waseda University’s School of Human Sciences correspondence program. Her thesis “The Reciprocal Influence Between the Representation of Disabled People and Real Society” won the Ono Azusa Memorial Academic Prize. Her debut novel “Hunchback” won the 169th Akutagawa Prize in July 2023. Her most recent book, to be published in September 2025 is “A Girl’s Spine”.
On September 26th, Kagoshima City took administrative action to revoke the disability welfare service designation of the “Employment Support Center Shichifukujin” (Takashi 2-chome), a Type B Continuing Employment Support Facility operated by the Social Welfare Corporation Tenyukai (Director: Yurika Nagata) in Murasakihara 5-chome, for fraudulently claiming training and other benefits. The city also ordered the repayment of 25,176,250 yen fraudulently claimed and received, plus additional payments totaling 35,240,631 yen. The revocation of the designation will take effect on the 30th.
Japan confirmed 994 new cases of HIV infection and AIDS in 2024, up 34 from the previous year and marking the second consecutive annual increase, the health ministry said Friday. The tally included 662 new HIV carriers, down seven, and 332 new AIDS patients, up 41. Sexual contact remained the leading transmission route, with 417 HIV and 170 AIDS cases. By age, people in their 30s accounted for the most HIV infections at 210, followed by those in their 20s at 208, while among AIDS patients, those 50 and older made up the largest group with 106 cases, followed by people in their 40s with 85.
Crew-assisted ramp services have been in place since 2022 at certain stations operated by JR Kyushu, JR East, JR Central, JR West, and JR Shikoku. Within JR East, they are already available at selected stations on the Ōme Line, Sōbu Main Line, Narita Line, Sotobō Line, Uchibō Line, Kururi Line, Sagami Line, Ryōmō Line, and Echigo Line. DPI Japan encourages wheelchair users living along these lines to try the service and share your feedback.
Two deaf students have appealed to Japan’s Supreme Court after lower courts rejected their claim that being denied classes in Japanese Sign Language violated their right to education. The pair are seeking 11 million yen in damages from the Hokkaidō government, a case their lawyer called a test of basic human rights protections for people with disabilities.
Barrier Free Japan