Barrier Free Japan has noticed a number of adverts and leaflets at train stations of late. Specifically they are aimed at discouraging people from walking on escalators or walking whilst looking at their smartphones.
Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is interviewing visually impaired people who have fallen from station platforms about the circumstances of the fall in order to raise awareness among related parties and prevent the recurrence of falls by visually impaired people from station platforms. The information the ministry obtains will be made public if the consent of the interviewee(s) is given.
Through the body, the ministry hopes to back cooperation between local governments and transport business operators, in order to secure new means of transportation, including through the expansion of ride-hailing services in which individuals use private vehicles to offer paid rides. More specifically, the body will aim to create frameworks for joint taxi operations by multiple companies and for smooth taxi dispatch to train stations and nearby.
In 1977, large-scale protests were held over the public bus operator’s refusal to allow people in wheelchairs with cerebral palsy to board, which became known as the “Kawasaki bus struggle.” This became an impetus for the progression of rights for those with disabilities.
In August, a physically disabled man (53) was denied boarding a Kawasaki City bus because he was refused use of the disability certificate app on his smartphone. The city has approved the use of the app, and the man claims he was “unfairly refused boarding.” The city apologized to the man, saying “the driver was not aware of the problem.” While the use of information and communication technology (ICT) is progressing, the situation shows that operators are lagging behind in their understanding.
A group representing people with disabilities has pointed out that the location of the new parking lot “hinders the use of the platform and increases danger,” and is calling for improvements. JR West Japan Chugoku Headquarters, based in Higashi-ku, which set up the parking lot, has reflected that “information sharing with the groups was not done well,” and will continue to monitor usage.
The Japan Fair Trade Commission on Thursday issued cease-and-desist orders to JTB Corp. and three other travel agencies in a bid-rigging case over a municipal project to transport COVID-19 patients.
It is the first time the antitrust watchdog has issued such an order over a project related to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the watchdog and other sources, the project to transport COVID-19 patients from their homes to accommodation facilities was ordered by the northeastern city of Aomori. The five companies colluded to decide in advance which of them would win five related tenders between April 2022 and March 2023, while agreeing that the winner would outsource some operations to the others.
A Japanese man who lost his wife and daughter in a high-profile accident involving a runaway car driven by an elderly man five years ago says he hopes to “leverage (through dialogue) the victimizer’s experience to prevent traffic accidents.”
The bereaved man, Takuya Matsunaga, 37, is slated to hold a meeting shortly with the elderly man, Kozo Iizuka, 92, who is serving a prison term over the incident.
On April 5th, a Taiwanese national with a physical disability attempted to board a Taiwan-bound flight of low-cost carrier (LCC) Peach Aviation (headquartered in Osaka Prefecture) at Naha Airport in Okinawa, but was denied boarding because the battery in their electric wheelchair was not visible from the outside. They complained that this was a discriminatory response, as airlines differ in their response to the issue of visual confirmation of batteries.
A man has died following an accident involving his suit jacket getting caught in an escalator at a station in Ibaraki Prefecture, police said Wednesday 27th March.
Barrier Free Japan