Disability News Japan Podcast:”My Name Is Junko Iizuka, I Was Forced To Undergo Eugenics Surgery”
By Barrier Free Japan June 23 2023 JAPAN – The audio in this podcast is a short extract from ‘TheContinue Reading
Latest Posts
Disabled Resident of Hokkaido Care Facility “felt coerced” into being Sterilized
On June 21, an interview with the Hokkaido prefectural government revealed that a person with a mental disability who wished to get married or live together at a group home run by Asunaro Fukushikai, a social welfare corporation in Esashi, Hokkaido (Hidetoshi Higuchi, president), stated that he “felt as if he was forced to do so” when asked by the prefectural government about the sterilization procedures being performed on him.
“Take our sufferings seriously soon,” Says Victim of Japan’s Forced Sterilization Program after Government Report is Submitted to Diet
Referring to findings in the Diet report, an 80-year-old victim of forced sterilization at age 14, said it showed the government “had been doing terrible things by deceiving children.”
“I would like the state not to shroud the issue in the darkness but take our sufferings seriously soon,” the victim, who goes by the pseudonym of Saburo Kita, said at a news conference.
62 ‘My Number’ Disability Certificate Linkage Mistakes Found in Japan’s Social Security System
Sixty-two cases in which My Number personal identification numbers were mistakenly linked with certificates for people with disabilities have been confirmed in the central Japan prefecture of Shizuoka, it was learned Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the health ministry asked local governments across the country to report by July 20 on how procedures for linking My Numbers with certificates for people with physical disabilities, for people with intellectual disabilities and for people with mental disorders are carried out and report by Sept. 29 whether there are any linkage errors.
Japan’s Social Security System ‘My Number’ Mistakenly Linked to Disability Certificate Holders in Shizuoka
Dozens of cases in which My Number personal identification numbers were mistakenly linked with certificates for people with disabilities have been confirmed in the central Japan prefecture of Shizuoka, the health ministry said Tuesday.
They are the first linkage mistakes involving disability certificate information that came to light in the country.
Report on Forced Sterilization in Japan Submitted to Parliament
A report on forced sterilizations of people with disabilities carried out under the now-defunct eugenic protection law was submitted to the chiefs of both chambers of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, on Monday.
According to the report, there were cases in which sterilization operations were carried out under false pretenses, as well as those conducted without the holding of necessary screening panel meetings.
SDF recruit likely to undergo mental evaluation after fatal shooting
Authorities are considering ordering a mental evaluation for an 18-year-old Ground Self-Defense Force recruit after he shot dead two instructors and injured another in central Japan last week, investigative sources said Monday.
The authorities aim to assess the male recruit’s mental state at the time of the attack on the three men during a live-fire training exercise at an indoor firing range in Gifu Prefecture, central Japan, as he has claimed no personal animosity toward the victims.
Mothers denied postpartum care in 14% of Japan municipalities: survey
About 14.4 percent of municipalities in Japan had cases in which mothers were denied care after giving birth, a survey recently showed, underscoring the country’s need to address the issue as it tries to reverse its declining birthrate.
The rate of rejection for reasons including a shortage of care facilities was even higher in municipalities with a population of 200,000 or more at 43.0 percent, according to the survey commissioned by the government and conducted last fall by Nomura Research Institute.
Report sheds light on forced sterilization under Japan’s now-defunct law
Japanese authorities have drawn up a draft investigative report shedding light on how thousands of people were forcibly sterilized under the now-defunct Eugenic Protection Law.
National statistics show that roughly 25,000 people underwent sterilization under the eugenics law, including those who did give their consent for the surgery. The law had authorized surgery without consent on people with mental or genetic disabilities to prevent the birth of what the law called “inferior descendants”. It was scrapped in 1996.
Report to Mention Forced Sterilization of 9-Yr-Olds under Former Law in Japan
A report to be submitted to the speakers of both chambers of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, as early as Monday will reveal that 9-year-old children were among the disabled people forced to undergo sterilization under the now-defunct eugenic protection law, a draft of the report showed Saturday.
According to the draft, the 1,400-page report will note that sterilization under the law peaked in 1955, and that a total of about 25,000 people are believed to have had sterilization surgery, with 66 pct of them sterilized without their consent.
Barrier Free Japan 