Category: Podcast

by Michael Gillan Peckitt July 4, 2025 Number of comments0
Abuse Care Disability Japan Podcast

Second Investigation Conducted Over Abuse at Disability Support Facility in Aomori Prefecture [Podcast Episode]

On July 2nd, Goshogawara city conducted a second investigation following the one in June, following suspicions that a disability support facility in Goshogawara City, Aomori Prefecture, had physically abused residents. The city conducted an investigation on June 26, including interviewing those involved with the facility, but was unable to identify the suspected abuser or the resident who was abused, so city officials visited the facility on the 2nd and conducted a re-investigation. The facility has 39 residents from within and outside the prefecture, and about 50 staff members. In response to an interview by Aomori Television on July 1st, the facility said it was “confirming the facts.”

by Michael Gillan Peckitt July 2, 2025 Number of comments0
Crime Japan Mental Health Podcast

Woman Handed Suspended Term over Attack at University Campus, Judge Attributes Attack to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder [Podcast Episode]

A Japanese court on Friday sentenced a woman to three years in prison, suspended for four years, for injuring eight students in a hammer attack at a university campus in suburban Tokyo. The court found Yoo Ju Hyun, a 23-year-old South Korean, guilty of injuring the students on Jan. 10 at Hosei University’s Tama Campus in Machida. The presiding judge put her actions down to a mental disorder she was suffering.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt June 30, 2025 Number of comments0
Japan Mental Health Podcast Work

Japan work-related mental illness cases top 1,000, record for 6th year [Podcast Episode]

The number of mental disorder cases recognized as work-related in Japan rose by 172 in fiscal 2024 to 1,055, marking a record high for the sixth straight year, the government said Wednesday, with harassment by superiors cited as the leading cause. Of the total, 88 cases involved suicides or suicide attempts in the fiscal year that ended in March, up nine from the previous year, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt June 27, 2025 Number of comments0
Crime Disability Japan Mental Health Podcast

“I’m going to take my disabled brother and wife with me”: Three die in possible murder-suicide in Chiba Prefecture [Podcast Episode]

Early on the morning of June 24th, a man in his 70s was found dead on the grounds of an apartment complex in Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture, and two other people, a man and a woman in their 70s, were found dead in the room where the man is believed to have lived. Investigators said a note was found saying “I’m going to take my disabled brother and my beloved wife with me,” and police are investigating the possibility that the man attempted a murder-suicide.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt June 25, 2025 Number of comments0
Disability Japan Podcast Welfare

Learning “Jiritsu”: Izumisano Welfare Association in Osaka Runs Program for People with Disabilities and Their Parents About Independence [Podcast Episode]

The Izumisano Welfare Association, a social welfare corporation operating 28 disability welfare facilities in Osaka Prefecture (chaired by Hirofumi Muroi), has created a program titled “Parent-Child Mirai Work: A Guide to Everyone’s Path to Jiritsu (Independence) from a Lifewide Learning Perspective”, which helps both young people with disabilities and their parents learn about “jiritsu” (independence). The word “jiritsu” is written in hiragana to avoid making the concept seem overly complicated. The program summarizes the results of a two-year project supported by the Nippon Foundation.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt June 23, 2025 Number of comments0
Disability Disasters Earthquake Elderly Japan Podcast Typhoon

Barely more than 10% of municipalities in Japan have created evacuation plans for individual elderly and disabled persons [Podcast Episode]

Individual evacuation plans are plans that determine in advance where and how elderly and disabled people who have difficulty evacuating on their own will evacuate in the event of a disaster. It has been four years since municipalities became obligated to create individual evacuation plans, but a national summary has revealed that only just over 10% of municipalities have created plans for most of the residents who are eligible. It has been a legal obligation for all municipalities for the past four years.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt June 20, 2025 Number of comments0
ALS Japan Podcast Politics Reiwa Shinsengumi

Election Time is Upon the Upper House in Japan, Lawmaker with ALS, Yasuhiko Funago Retires from Politics [Podcast Episode]

House of Councillors lawmaker Yasuhiko Funago, who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, held a press conference on Tuesday and announced his intention not to seek another term in this summer’s Upper House election and to retire from politics. At the press conference in the Diet building, a statement prepared by Funago, 67, also deputy leader of the opposition Reiwa Shinsengumi party, was read using the automatic speech function of a personal computer, as he is unable to use his own voice.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt June 16, 2025 Number of comments0
ALS Assisted Dying Euthanasia Japan Podcast Yuri Hayashi

Top court rejects appeal by doctor over euthanasia of ALS patient [Podcast Episode]

Japan’s top court rejected an appeal on Thursday 12th June by a doctor convicted of consensually killing a woman, Yuri Hayashi, 51, who had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a rare neurological disease also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, in 2019 in Kyoto, western Japan, finalizing his 18-year prison sentence. The Supreme Court’s Second Petty Bench rejected arguments that found Yoshikazu Okubo, 47, guilty of aiding another’s suicide would violate the constitutional right to self-determination.