Shinya Tateiwa, a sociologist and professor at Ritsumeikan University, who was known for his essays on the disabled and euthanasia, including a critique of the murder case at a facility for people with disabilities in Sagamihara, passed away at 1:33 p.m. on July 31 at a hospital in Sakyo-ku, Kyoto City due to a malignant lymphoma. He was 62 years old.
Yukari Okutsu (54), who has lived in the facility since before the attack, told the gathering at the ceremony that she tries to ease the anxiety of her fellow residents by talking to them when they are in trouble. She went on to say, “My 19 friends, please continue watching over us from heaven.” Okutsu gave the first memorial speech by a resident of the facility.
Yukari Okutsu, who has lived in the facility since before the attack, told the gathering that she tries to ease the anxiety of her fellow residents by talking to them when they are in trouble. She went on to say, “My 19 friends, please continue watching over us from heaven.” Okutsu gave the first memorial speech by a resident of the facility.
July 26th 2023 will mark seven years since the ‘Sagamihara Massacre’, when, in the small hours of July 26, 2016, Satoshi Uematsu, a former worker at a care facility for people with disabilities in Sagamihara City in Kanagawa Prefecture, broke into his former place of employment and killed 19 residents aged between 19 and 70 with a knife and injured 26 others, specifically 24 residents and two employees.
Satoshi Uematsu’s death sentence was finalized in March 2020.
The draft report compiled by the city’s human rights policy council will include two proposals on penalties on hate speech: one that imposes an administrative fine for malicious acts, and the other in which a criminal penalty or an administrative fine will be imposed for such acts. The council will later meet again to go over the details and propose the final report to the Sagamihara Municipal Government.
“I was forced to swing the hands of the clock back. Are you still swinging?” The family members of the victims of the Sagamihara Stabbings are upset over the fact that the former employee, Satoshi Uematsu, a 32-year-old prisoner who had been sentenced to death in the trial of the Tsukui Yamayurien case and withdrew his appeal, filed a retrial request with the Yokohama District Court.”
In a questioning session, Tenbata pointed out that “I feel that the basis of the statement that people’s value is evaluated based on their productivity is the same as that of Satoshi Uematsu, a death-row prisoner who caused the ‘Yamayurien Incident’ (in which residents of a facility for the disabled were killed and wounded)”. Sugita said she was “very disappointed that some people have the opinion that I am the same as death row prisoner Uematsu” and added: “I will do my best to realize a society that is close to people with disabilities and enables them to live well. We are still not making enough effort”.
Officials reported to the city that they were trying to cover up suspicion of abuse by falsifying records, but the city decided that there was no problem after hearing from the agency. The business group is fully funded by the city, and the chairman of the board is a former executive of the city.
In one of the video clips, a staff member placed the seated man on a luggage cart and proceeded to punch him twice in the face after being bitten. The other clip showed a different staff member kicking the man in the leg from the side to stop him from kicking a window while seated on the floor.
Speaking at a July 26 ceremony marking the tragic deaths, the father of one of the residents pledged to help build a more inclusive society. “It is difficult to find answers to the question of what needs to be done, but we must make the effort,” said Otsuki Kazuma.
Barrier Free Japan