Category: Podcast

by Michael Gillan Peckitt April 4, 2025 2
ADHD Autism Barrier Free Japan Musashino Higashi Gakuen Podcast

‘Inclusive’ Tokyo School Chairman Not To Be Prosecuted Over Coercion of Schoolgirl & Barrier Free Japan in ‘Unseen Japan’ [Podcast Episode]

In 2024, at a vocational high school run by Musashino Higashi Gakuen in Musashino City, a male board chairman was sent for indictment on suspicion of coercion for forcing a female student, then in her third year, to write an apology letter. On the 2nd, the Tachikawa branch of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office announced that he would not be prosecuted. The decision is effective as of March 31, and no reasons have been disclosed.

And yes, Barrier Free Japan has been published in the online publication ‘Unseen Japan.’

by Michael Gillan Peckitt April 2, 2025 1
ADHD Autism Education Japan Musashino Higashi Gakuen Podcast

Musashino Higashi Gakuen: Parents of Neurodivergent Students Worried Early About “safe haven for our children” [Podcast Episode]

Parents of students attending Musashino Higashi Gakuen raised concerned about the appointment of Kenzo Matsumura as early as February 2024. In their change.org petition, parents express their concerns that the school as a “safe haven for our children is in a deep state of crisis, and with an ever growing concern about the future of our school”.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt March 31, 2025 Number of comments0
ADHD Autism Disability Education Japan Musashino Higashi Gakuen Podcast

Musashino Higashi Gakuen: “Remaining teachers have no choice but to do what they can” [Podcast Episode]

Musashino Higashi Gakuen is an educational corporation that has two kindergartens, an elementary school, a junior high school, and a higher vocational school under its umbrella and is known for its inclusive education model, in which children with and without autism study together. A teacher at Musashino Higashi Gakuen says this with a grim resolve: “For the sake of the students and parents who remain, even though the school has had so many problems since the president was replaced, all the remaining teachers have no choice but to do what they can.”

by Michael Gillan Peckitt March 28, 2025 Number of comments0
ADHD Autism Education Intellectual disabilities Japan Podcast

Parents and Neurodivergent Children Attending ‘Inclusive’ Tokyo School Required to Sign Non-Disclosure Agreement [Podcast Episode]

A school operator in the Tokyo suburbs required parents of newly enrolled students to submit a written pledge promising not to leak internal school information to outside parties, sources have told the Mainichi Shimbun. Musashino Higashi Gakuen is known for its inclusive education model, in which children with and without autism study together. Some parents have noted that “few places offer inclusive education for children with autism,” amid growing unease about the institution’s future.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt March 26, 2025 Number of comments0
Care Children Day Care Service Disability Japan Podcast

Sendai Parents of Children with Disabilities Call for Increase in Short-term Hospital Beds [Podcast Episode]

An organization made up of parents of severely physically and mentally disabled children receiving medical care at home has requested Sendai City to expand hospital beds and day care services. The organization visited Aoba Ward Office in Sendai City on March 24th and handed in a request letter calling for an increase in short-term hospital beds for severely physically and mentally disabled children and adults who play an important role when their family members are unwell, and an expansion of day care services that they use on a daily basis.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt March 24, 2025 Number of comments0
Barrier Free Disability Japan Podcast Politics Reiwa Shinsengumi

Extract from The Mainichi Shimbun’s Interview with Yasuhiko Funago, Diet Member with ALS [Podcast Episode]

Yasuhiko Funago (67), a member of the House of Councillors of the Reiwa Shinsengumi, who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and is severely disabled, attracted a great deal of attention when he was elected for the first time in 2019. About five and a half years have passed since then, and Funago says he feels that the reasonable accommodations being promoted in the Diet for people with disabilities are being mistakenly interpreted as “giving charity from above.”

In the podcast is an extract from the interview, rendered using text-to-speech software.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt March 21, 2025 Number of comments0
Care Elderly Health Japan Paid Referrals Podcast

The Saga of ‘Paid Referrals’ of Disability Welfare Services Continues [Podcast Episode]

By March 17th, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare had thoroughly informed local governments that it is prohibited for disability welfare service facilities and businesses to pay money or goods to referral companies in return for introducing users to them, as this is a violation of the operating standards. It was originally prohibited to pay referral fees to consultation support specialists who create service usage plans and other disability welfare businesses, but the treatment of the general public and referral companies was unclear, so this was clarified.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt March 19, 2025 Number of comments0
Education Forced Sterilization Health Japan Podcast

School Health Checkups in Japan Still Cause Trouble with Parents [Podcast Episode]

School doctors in Japan still have to take the risk of facing complaints from parents about their children’s body parts being exposed during regular health checkups although the education ministry took measures to soothe such parental anxiety over a year ago. According to a survey conducted in June by online medical information provider m3.com, more than 80 pct of the 1,970 responding practitioners and physicians did not want to become school doctors chiefly out of concern that parents “more than necessary” tend not to allow their children’s bodies to be shown to the doctors.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt March 14, 2025 Number of comments0
Crime Disability Intellectual disabilities Japan Podcast

“Blaming Only the Defendant Would Be Too Harsh”: Chiba Father Given Suspended Sentence for Killing Disabled Son [Podcast Episode]

On March 12th, the Chiba District Court delivered a verdict in the trial of a 78-year-old man accused of murdering his younger son, who had a severe intellectual disability, by strangling him in July last year in Chosei Village, Chiba Prefecture. The court sentenced him to three years in prison, suspended for five years (the prosecution had sought a five-year prison term). Presiding Judge Ryuta Asaka noted that “the defendant was in a highly pressured situation, and it would be too harsh to place all the blame on him,” justifying the suspended sentence.