“As early as Friday, January 30, two days before the broadcast, Takaichi’s camp had already approached Takayuki Kobayashi, the Chairperson of the Policy Research Council, to act as a last-minute substitute.”
Yamagami will file an appeal on Wednesday at the Osaka High Court following recommendations by his defense team that he proceed, the sources said.
While the court ordered the payment of ¥800,000 in consolation money, it did not recognize the claim for wages for the period during which the man was unable to work after his dismissal. The plaintiff’s attorney, Motoya Tsuchida, said, “The ruling does, in a sense, squarely acknowledge disability discrimination,” while indicating that they plan to appeal.
While the court ordered the payment of ¥800,000 in consolation money, it did not recognize the claim for wages for the period during which the man was unable to work after his dismissal. The plaintiff’s attorney, Motoya Tsuchida, said, “The ruling does, in a sense, squarely acknowledge disability discrimination,” while indicating that they plan to appeal.
Supporters of Sanseito took to the streets of Kobe on Saturday 31st January to promote the party’s platform ahead of an upcoming election.
The prefectural government announced that it has imposed an administrative sanction on a group home support facility in Tōon, Ehime Prefecture, after confirming that the facility’s then-manager repeatedly abused residents. According to the prefecture, inspections and audits found that over a period of about one year from November 2024, the manager subjected users to physical, sexual and psychological abuse on multiple occasions. The manager has since been dismissed, and the prefecture ordered the facility to suspend accepting new users for one year under the Act on Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities, citing the seriousness and repeated nature of the misconduct.
Saga City and other local governments in Japan are increasingly turning to avatar robots to expand employment opportunities for people with disabilities, with the humanoid robot “OriHime” emerging as a key tool. Saga City has launched a pilot program placing an OriHime robot in the lobby of its city hall, where it is remotely operated by people with disabilities to guide visitors during peak hours, in cooperation with a local employment support facility. The initiative aims to create new, flexible work models for those who have difficulty commuting or working in person, while also improving public services. Similar efforts to raise awareness of avatar robots have been seen elsewhere, including an event in Miyazaki Prefecture in 2024, highlighting growing interest in OriHime as a way to connect people with disabilities to society and the workforce.
The number of people who died by suicide in Japan in 2025 came to 19,097, standing below 20,000 for the first time since the statistics began in 1978, preliminary government data showed Thursday. Suicides among elementary, junior high and senior high school students came to 532, hitting a record high for the second straight year since comparable data became available in 1980.
Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced on January 19th that in fiscal 2024 there were 6,258 reports and notifications received by prefectures and designated cities concerning alleged abuse of persons with disabilities by staff at psychiatric hospitals. Of these, 260 cases were officially recognized as abuse. Under the revised Mental Health and Welfare Act enacted in 2022, reporting abuse of persons with disabilities by psychiatric hospital staff to prefectures and designated cities was made mandatory. This is the first time such data have been compiled. The ministry stated, “We have confirmed that the reporting system is being recognized. We will continue to closely monitor future trends.”
At the second hearing on Jan. 26 at the Ichinomiya branch of the Nagoya District Court, prosecutors amended the indictment in a fatal traffic accident case involving a pregnant woman to include harm caused to the fetus, while declining to apply a separate charge of negligent driving resulting in injury to the child. The husband of the victim, Yudai Togitani, who lost his wife and whose daughter was left with severe disabilities, said the grief of losing his wife and the anger over having his daughter’s future taken away have remained unchanged since the accident, adding that he could not accept that his daughter was not treated as a victim when her name was initially omitted from the indictment.
Barrier Free Japan