Category: Disability

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.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt December 10, 2025 Number of comments0
Disability Discrimination Group Homes (GH) Housing Japan Tokyo

“I Don’t Want to End My Life Here”: Half of the Disabled People Living in Facilities Sent Outside Tokyo

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.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt December 10, 2025 Number of comments0
Crime Cults Disability Japan Unification Church

Unification Church’s Japan Head Resigns

Tomihiro Tanaka, Japan head of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, resigned from the post Tuesday. “We cannot underestimate the fact that we have caused deep pain to some people,” Tanaka told a news conference held at the head office in Tokyo of the controversial religious group’s Japan branch. “I’m sorry.”

by Michael Gillan Peckitt December 5, 2025 Number of comments0
Assassination of Shinzo Abe Crime Cults Disability Japan Unification Church

Abe Shooter Apologizes to Bereaved Family for 1st Time

Tetsuya Yamagami, charged with the 2022 murder of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, apologized to the bereaved family for the first time at Nara District Court on Thursday. At the 14th court hearing of his lay judge trial, Yamagami, 45, said he was very sorry for what he did. Yamagami also said that killing Abe was “wrong.” He reportedly targeted Abe in light of the former prime minister’s ties with the Unification Church, which he held a grudge against.