Japanese Princess Aiko has been diagnosed with influenza, the Imperial Household Agency said Monday. The 23-year-old princess, the only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, canceled her planned participation in an event to celebrate the 91st birthday of Emperor Emeritus Akihito, held at his residence in Tokyo’s Minato Ward the same day.
The central Japan prefecture of Shizuoka logged the longest estimated average healthy life expectancy for both men and women as of 2022, at 73.75 and 76.68 years respectively, the health ministry said Tuesday. Meanwhile, Iwate Prefecture ranked bottom among the nation’s 47 prefectures for both men and women, at 70.93 and 74.28 years.
According to the Tokyo Labor Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, as of June 1st of this year, the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education had 985.5 disabled people employed, which is calculated by counting the number of disabled people per person depending on the degree of disability and working hours, and the actual employment rate was 1.95%. This is below the legal employment rate of 2.7% based on the Disabled Persons Employment Promotion Act, and the national government has requested the Board of Education to increase employment of disabled people, including by providing guidance.
The number of office closures will be at least 16 in total in six prefectures, and the number of disabled people fired or retired is expected to reach about 300. This is an unusual scale for a single business operator, and in some cases, users have rebelled against the sudden closures. The company in question is “MOON” in Tokai City, Aichi Prefecture.
On December 21st, the Miyazaki Higher Brain Dysfunction Disorder Family Association Akari (Chairman Tobita Hiroshi), made up of families of people with higher brain dysfunction in Miyazaki Prefecture, held its first street campaign promoting the wearing of bicycle helmets at an intersection in front of a department store in Miyazaki City.
The Japanese government plans to reduce the official prices for nearly half of all drugs under the public health insurance program in its fiscal 2025 revision, informed sources said Friday. This is expected to cut national medical expenses by some 250 billion yen, alleviating burdens on patients while squeezing the pharmaceutical industry.
In the style of all the ‘big beasts’ of social media, I thought ‘Barrier Free Japan’ should do a ‘Wrap-up’ at the end of 2024.
A Japanese government survey showed on Friday 20th December that 78.2 pct of respondents feel anxious or worried, the highest level since the government began asking about such sentiment in the annual survey in 1981. The public opinion survey on people’s lives by the Cabinet Office also found that 28.1 pct of respondents think that their standard of living is in the lower middle part of the general public, the highest level in 35 years, while 46.7 pct answered middle, 14.2 pct upper middle, 8.7 pct low and 1.7 pct high. People worry most about their own health, cited by 63.8 pct of all respondents, followed by plans for life after retirement, picked by 62.8 pct, and the outlook for future income and assets, chosen by 58.0 pct.
large number of people with disabilities are being let go from workplaces in Japan as government-aided employers which offered them chances to gain skills and knowledge while working have been closing down. Formerly, there were about 4,600 such facilities nationwide. Between March and July this year, this was reduced by more than 160, and around 4,300 people lost their jobs. Usually, between around 1,000 and 3,000 people with disabilities are fired each year.
The first meeting of the “Medical and Health Management Issues Reform Committee,” which will consider measures to address high health risks for residents of Nakai Yamayuri En (Nakai Town), a prefectural facility for the intellectually disabled, was held on December 18th at the prefectural office in Naka Ward, Yokohama. As investigations into cases of abuse of residents at the facility progress, issues such as residents not receiving appropriate medical care have emerged. At the beginning of the meeting, Governor Yuji Kuroiwa said, “A new issue of medical gaps has come to light. We would like to position this as part of the reform of Nakai Yamayuri En.” ‘Nakai Yamayuri En’ is ran by the same company that manages the ‘Tsukui Yamayuri En’ care facility where, in the early hours of July 26th 2016, a former employee broke in and killed 19 residents between the ages of 19 and 70 with a knife, injuring 26 others.
Barrier Free Japan