Akemashite Omedetou, Happy New Year from Japan! Nagasaki Prefecture reported a record 3,961 people with disabilities employed at private companies as of June 1, 2025, up 125 from the previous year, according to figures released by the Nagasaki Labour Bureau on Dec. 19, so we begin 2026 with good news about disability in Japan.
It was revealed on December 28th through interviews with stakeholders that the Japan Pension Service, which handles the administration of national disability pensions, has been secretly discarding evaluation records and requesting new rulings from different doctors whenever staff members deemed the original doctor’s decision on benefit eligibility to be “problematic.” The Pension Service admitted to this practice during interviews, stating they are “currently investigating the facts, including the number of cases involved.”
Cases of abuse against people with disabilities in Japan reached a record high of 3,770 in fiscal 2024, the welfare ministry said Tuesday 23rd December, citing an increase in consultations and reports to local governments. The total, confirmed by prefectural and municipal authorities, rose by 293 from the previous year, the ministry said.
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is considering adding Japanese language proficiency as a requirement for permanent residency for foreigners, sources familiar with the matter said Friday. To obtain the status, foreigners will also be mandated to take a program aimed at helping them smoothly integrate into local communities, the sources said. The envisaged new requirements will be included in a draft package of proposals on policy for foreign nationals, to be compiled next month for submission to the government.
Nearly two years after Japan’s revised Act for Eliminating Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities made the provision of “reasonable accommodation” mandatory for private businesses, progress remains uneven. While some companies in Okayama Prefecture have introduced measures such as sign-language captions, communication apps, Braille menus, and barrier-free design, people with disabilities say daily experiences have changed little.
Well, that’s more or less a wrap for 2025! I might make a few podcast episodes should something momentous happen, other than have a Barrier Free Solstice and New Year and Disability News Japan will return in 2026!
Three years have now passed since the disability studies scholar and Japanologist Mark Bookman (1991 – 2022) died on December 16th 2022. At the time of his death, Mark was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Tokyo College and about to take up a position at Ritsumeikan University.
In April two years ago, in Oguni Town, Yamagata Prefecture, a bullet fired by a hunter engaged in a bear extermination operation struck another man in the leg, causing serious injuries that resulted in permanent aftereffects. The injured man has filed a lawsuit against the town, seeking approximately 30 million yen in damages.
Almost half of Japanese nationals feel familiar with loneliness and isolation, a government survey showed Friday. According to the Cabinet Office’s first public opinion survey on the issue, 48.4% of respondents answered they feel “familiar” or “rather familiar” with such feelings, while 49.6% chose “not familiar” or “rather do not feel it.” The remaining 2.0% did not answer.
Around 11:44 a.m., a quake with an estimated magnitude of 6.7 occurred off Aomori, logging 4 on Japan’s seismic intensity scale in 38 municipalities in five prefectures, including Hokkaido’s Hakodate, Aomori’s Hachinohe and Iwate’s Morioka. The intensity is the sixth-highest level on the 10-point scale. All the advisories were lifted at 2:05 p.m. after minor tsunami waves were observed in some municipalities, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Barrier Free Japan