After prosecutors indicted Chigono in June last year on charges of negligent driving resulting in death, Sayaka Togitani’s husband Yudai Togitani, 34, and her father Atsushi Mizukawa, 62, asked prosecutors in September to recognize Hinami as a victim and also charge the suspect with negligent driving resulting in injury of the daughter.
The girl, who was 16 at the time and worked at a disability welfare facility in Hyogo Prefecture, had been arrested on suspicion of assault after restraining a service user who became violent. She was detained for 18 days. Although prosecutors ultimately decided not to indict her, she continued to suffer from eating disorders and other physical and psychological health problems, and died five months after her release.
Goto is suspected of sexually assaulting a girl who attended the facility (then aged 9) in February of the year before last at a restroom in a shopping mall in Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture, knowing that she was under the age of 13. He is also suspected of filming the assault. Goto had previously been arrested and indicted for allegedly committing indecent acts against a five-year-old girl who also attended the same disability support facility and filming those acts. This latest case marks his fourth arrest.
The Japan Federation of Bar Associations said via a press release on June 16th that Tachikawa City’s failure to provide written reasons when partially denying disability welfare services to a woman violated Article 8 of the Administrative Procedure Act and risked infringing her right to fair administrative procedures derived from the principles embodied in Article 31 of the Constitution.
Goto is suspected of sexually assaulting a girl who attended the facility (then aged 9) in February of the year before last at a restroom in a shopping mall in Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture, knowing that she was under the age of 13. He is also suspected of filming the assault. Goto had previously been arrested and indicted for allegedly committing indecent acts against a five-year-old girl who also attended the same disability support facility and filming those acts. This latest case marks his fourth arrest.
On the 12th, the city of Yao, Osaka Prefecture, announced that it had imposed a six-month suspension as a disciplinary measure on a 60-year-old assistant section chief in the Environmental Department for attempting to ride the railway without paying the proper fare and for forging a physical disability certificate. The employee reportedly submitted his resignation on the same day, which was accepted.
On the 12th, the city of Yao, Osaka Prefecture, announced that it had imposed a six-month suspension as a disciplinary measure on a 60-year-old assistant section chief in the Environmental Department for attempting to ride the railway without paying the proper fare and for forging a physical disability certificate. The employee reportedly submitted his resignation on the same day, which was accepted.
According to the Kumamoto Ombudsman, the recipient was bedridden and unable to visit a medical institution for an examination, yet the city suspended the allowance on the grounds that the required medical certificate had not been submitted. The Ombudsman pointed out that the recipient’s relatives had consulted the city about alternative means of completing the procedure, but the city had not accepted those requests.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has announced its intention to introduce new qualification requirements for managers of disability group homes and to make training mandatory for staff members. The proposal was presented on the 5th at a meeting of the Social Security Council’s Subcommittee on Persons with Disabilities (chaired by Professor Kohei Komamura of Keio University). The move aims to improve the quality of services in response to a growing number of cases in recent years involving inappropriate practices by operators that prioritize profit over proper care.
According to the city’s Welfare Division for the Disabled Living at Home, the city’s Daily Life Equipment Benefit Project—which supports individuals with disabilities—currently provides a monthly subsidy of 12,000 yen for disposable diapers. This benefit is restricted to specific groups, such as individuals unable to use a stoma (artificial anus/bladder) or those with severe physical disabilities resulting from cerebral palsy developed before roughly 3 years of age. Conversely, individuals with severe intellectual disabilities, or those who acquired severe physical disabilities later in life due to traffic accidents or other causes, are currently excluded from the subsidy.
Barrier Free Japan