Category: Japan

by Michael Gillan Peckitt January 20, 2025 Number of comments0
Disability Disasters Earthquake Elderly Japan Typhoon

Japan sees 5,400 deaths from post-disaster fatigue, stress since 1995

More than 5,400 people died in Japan over the past 30 years due to severe stress and exhaustion caused by evacuation following earthquakes and other natural disasters, according to a recent tally by Kyodo News. At least 5,456 “disaster-related deaths” have been recognized since local governments began such designation following the Great Hanshin Earthquake in western Japan on Jan. 17, 1995, with the figure including deaths linked to the Noto Peninsula quake last year.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt January 19, 2025 Number of comments0
Disability Infectious Diseases Influenza Japan

As weekly influenza cases average at alert level in 40 prefectures in Japan, facilities for people with disabilities struggle

As influenza and COVID-19 infections spread, facilities for people with disabilities are also struggling to respond. Facilities for people with severe intellectual disabilities have found it difficult to take precautions, and there have been cases of infections spreading among users and staff.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt January 18, 2025 Number of comments0
Disability Disasters Earthquake Japan Nankai Trough

Japan Raises Nankai Trough Megaquake Probability to Some 80 Percent

The Japanese government’s Earthquake Research Committee has increased its assessed probability of an earthquake with a magnitude of 8 to 9 occurring along the Nankai Trough off the country’s Pacific coast within the next 30 years to some 80 pct from 70-80 pct, officials said. When a 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Miyazaki Prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Monday, the panel at the time concluded that Monday’s earthquake was not a phenomenon that could be considered to have relatively increased the possibility of a Nankai Trough earthquake occurring compared with normal times.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt January 18, 2025 Number of comments0
Children Japan Nursing Care

Ex-Nursery Worker Ruled Not Guilty over Girl’s Death in 2017

A Japanese district court Thursday found a former worker of a nursery school not guilty of assaulting and killing a 1-year-old girl in 2017.
Judge Takeshi Okuyama, who presided over the lay-judge trial at Yokohama District Court in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, issued the ruling, rejecting the prosecution’s demand for a 10-year prison term for the former worker.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt January 15, 2025 Number of comments0
Coronavirus COVID-19 Infectious Diseases Japan

70 mil. COVID cases, 130,000 deaths in 5 yrs since outbreak in Japan

As Japan marks five years on Wednesday since its first confirmed case of COVID-19, government data show that over 70 million people in the country are estimated to have contracted the virus as of March last year, while total deaths stood at 130,000 as of last August. While yearly deaths have declined since peaking during the Omicron variant surge in 2022, fatalities remain significantly higher than for influenza, with the virus continuing to spread seasonally in summer and winter.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt January 14, 2025 Number of comments0
Disability Employment Japan

Number of People with Disabilities Employed in Yamaguchi Prefecture Reaches Record High

According to the Yamaguchi Labor Bureau, as of June 1st of last year, the number of disabled people employed by companies with their headquarters in the prefecture was 4,911.5, up 84 from the previous year. This is the highest number since statistics began being collected in 1977. The Disabled Employment Promotion Act requires private companies to employ a certain percentage of disabled people, such as 2.5 percent. This year’s employment rate in private companies was 2.77 percent, with particularly high rates in the service industry and medical and welfare industries.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt January 13, 2025 Number of comments0
Assisted Reproduction Birth Rate Japan

Tokyo to Offer Up to 100,000 Yen for Painless Delivery

The Tokyo metropolitan government will provide up to 100,000 yen in subsidies from October to residents of Tokyo who opt for painless deliveries, Governor Yuriko Koike has said. “The Tokyo metropolitan government will lead efforts to realize a society where people can have and raise children without worry,” Koike told reporters on Saturday. It will be the country’s first program to subsidize the cost of painless childbirths at the prefecture level.