“Posters using the phrase “Disability is just an excuse, only I am weak if I lose” were removed the walls of JR Tokyo station on October 15th following criticisms from disability groups.”
“Japan won 45 gold medals at the Asian Para Games 2018, an eight-day international sporting event for para-athletes that ended Saturday with the closing ceremony in Jakarta.”
“Serving as Japan’s flag-bearer in the opening ceremony was Kaede Maegawa, a member of the national women’s track and field team. She said she walked with her head held high during the ceremony hoping that the audience “will realize that a person with a prosthetic leg can walk gracefully.” ”
“While there is no Paralympic category for athletes solely with hearing impairments, the deaf community is not just watching the momentum build from the sidelines, and the Japanese Federation of the Deaf has launched a campaign to bring the Deaflympics — Olympic Games for the deaf — to Japan for the first time.”
“With the start of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics just two years away, para athletes have begun to ramp up preparations and intensify their training. But many face major disadvantages due to a lack of training facilities with features such as air conditioning or barrier-free entrances.”
“With Aug. 25 marking exactly two years until the opening of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, facilities across Japan are being renovated or newly built to meet universal design standards.”
“The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is currently looking into the necessary legal changes to oblige airlines that operate regular domestic and international flights in Japan to introduce wheelchair lifts, ramps and other equipment.”
“Japan’s Gurimu Narita, the men’s Pyeongchang Paralympic snowboarding banked slalom champion, is looking to compete in canoe at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.”
“The tourism ministry will step up efforts to make the nation’s airports more accessible for disabled people ahead of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, it has been learned.”
“Under the new rules, hotels with 201 to 300 rooms, for example, would have to have three or more rooms accessible to wheelchair users.”
Barrier Free Japan