The Japan Meteorological Agency has named this earthquake the ‘2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake’ which in Japanese is ‘ 令和6年能登半島地震’ or the ‘Reiwa 6 Noto Peninsula Earthquake’, ‘Reiwa 6’ being the Japanese Imperial Year in 2024.
I began this podcast episode intending to just welcome in 2024 and then, at around 16:10, a Shindo 7 earthquake occurred in Ishikawa Prefecture and a tsunami warning was issued. At the time of posting this on the late evening of January 1st 2024, not all tsunami warnings have been lifted, but the number of earthquakes has lessened.
After more than 400 years, the iconic Nagoya Castle is under siege, this time by those wanting to make it more accessible to wheelchair-users and those who are determined to keep it as original as possible.
At a town hall meeting on the planned reconstruction of the castle here on June 3, a man scolded a wheelchair-user.
“Don’t confuse equality with your selfishness,” the man said. “How dare you be so selfish.”
A 27-year-old employee of a support facility for people with disabilities in Miyazaki City was arrested on the night of December 22nd on suspicion of assault after allegedly punching a resident in his 50s this month. Miyazaki City has revealed that this employee has been confirmed to have committed abusive behavior towards a total of five residents, and has decided to issue administrative guidance to the facility in the future.
The Christmas Eve edition of the ‘Disability News Japan’ Podcast. Merry Christmas everyone!
On December 18th, the Nagoya City Citizen Debate Committee held its fourth meeting on the issue of discriminatory comments made against disabled people during a citizens’ debate on the Nagoya Castle wooden restoration project. The city presented a draft of the interim report, which it aims to publish by the end of the year, and the committee members expressed their opinions. The meeting was closed to the public.
On 15th December, the Osaka Prefectural Police arrested the manager (32) of a welfare facility for the disabled in Kaizuka City, Osaka Prefecture, on suspicion of assaulting a 48-year-old woman by dragging her and knocking her to the floor. He denies the charge, saying he dragged the woman but made a slight mistake in the part where he knocked her to the floor. The police will investigate the possibility that he may have assaulted the woman and other users.
It has been one year since Mark Bookman a historian, whose specialism was disability policy died on December 16th 2022.
Before he died, Mark was working on a new project; a charity that would help organisations such as governments & businesses include people with disabilities. The charity is called ‘GLIDE’ or ‘Global Leaders in International Disability Education’. The documentary “Mark – A Call to Action” produced by GLIDE will premiere in February 2024.
In preparation for the next fiscal year’s revision of compensation for welfare services for persons with disabilities, Kyosaren, a Tokyo-based national organization that supports persons with disabilities, submitted a petition signed by 1,411 organizations to Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Keizo Takemi on December 8th, requesting a positive revision of basic compensation in light of the severe operating environment at service centers, including a serious labor shortage.
Japan’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the parents of a boy from Kawasaki City against a lawsuit in which they sought damages from Kanagawa Prefecture and the city on the grounds that it was illegal for the boy to be designated to a special-needs school on the grounds of severe disability.
Barrier Free Japan