“Tomoka Igari is a member of the underground pop idol group “Kamen-Joshi” (masked girls). In April last year, she suffered a spinal cord injury when a strong wind caused a sign to fall onto her on a street in Tokyo. Igari will play a character called Hinata, who also uses a wheelchair and who encourages the depressed Nao with her positive attitude while undergoing rehabilitation at the same hospital.”
“Kazuhiko Motoki, a section chief in charge of the revisions at the Tokyo Office of the Governor for Policy Planning said” “We understand that the wider a space is, the easier it is (for wheelchair users) to use, but it was decided via intense negotiations,” “
“Two of Japan’s largest psychiatric societies will carry out investigations of their connection to the “unfortunate history” of forced sterilization surgeries on those with intellectual disabilities or mental illnesses carried out under the eugenic protection law.”
“The Japanese government plans to allow people with disabilities hired by government agencies to work part time before officially beginning their full-time duties, officials said.”
“When I interviewed people with disabilities, I was often told, ‘We’re not saints. I want you to portray [Shikano] as an ordinary man.’”
“Of the 38 prefectures in Japan in which prefectural government departments and boards of education inappropriately reported jobs information, 26 prefectures are planning to recruit at least about 1,200 people by the end of 2020 due to the lack of recruiting persons with disabilities.”
““I wanted to be a caregiver and help the elderly because I didn’t get the chance to look after my father (who died),”
“Japan’s Disability Shame: Soon after the end of the Second World War, the Japanese government began a program of forced sterilisation of its disabled population in an attempt to manage the country’s repopulation efforts. From there, a longstanding and pernicious stigma endured to the present day, where the disabled are openly shunned in society, and treated as a shameful taboo.”
“More than 40 percent of Japan’s major publishing companies do not provide the electronic data for their books and magazines, which would make it easier to convert into Braille or audio for readers with visual impairments, a Mainichi Shimbun survey has found.”
“[A]ttention may have been attracted by the pathetic yet manly sight of a young non-commissioned officer in the white uniform of an army patient, handling the plane and operating the rudder bar with his artificial limb. The young soldier is Sgt. Maj. Mitsumasa Seo, who, though minus one leg, is awaiting the day when he may again resume his service with the Army Air Corps, reports the Asahi.”
Barrier Free Japan