Disability News Japan
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Disability News Japan
Hosted by Michael Gillan Peckitt, who resides in Kobe, Japan, the Disability News Japan Podcast is News website 'Barrier Free Japan's podcast, a weekly digest of some of the news about disability in Japan in audio form. New episodes will usually be available every Friday at 6am Japan Time.
Episodis Recents
613 episodis
60% of Workers in Japan with Mental or Developmental Disabilities Do Not Disclose Disability
When an advocacy group for people with mental and developmental disabilities conducted a survey on employment, over 60% of respondents reported having...
Novel Alzheimer’s Therapies Given to Less than 20 Percent of Applicants in Japan
Novel Alzheimer's therapies have been given to 19 pct of outpatients who applied for the medications, according to a recent survey at a Tokyo hospital...
Disabled Service Users at Employment Facility Exploiting Benefit Loopholes “felt something like guilt”
Amid support programs for the employment of people with disabilities, an unprecedented case of fraudulent benefit claims by an Osaka-based company has...
Nearly 500 elderly killed by family caregivers in Japan in Fiscal Years 2006-2024
A recent analysis of a government report showed that nearly 500 people aged 65 and older died between fiscal 2006 and 2024 as a result of murder or ab...
Japan Health Minister Warns about Rising Measles Cases
Japanese health minister Kenichiro Ueno on Friday 3rd April urged the public to exercise caution as measles cases are increasing. The number of people...
Survey Reveals 60% of Families of People with Disabilities in Japan Feel They are at Care “Limit”
A survey of families of people with disabilities has revealed that nearly 60% responded that they feel they have reached their limit with caregiving (...
“We’d like you to resign”: Worker in Japan fired 4 days after revealing autism
“We’d like you to resign.” Hearing those words, Yamakawa (a pseudonym) was shocked. They never expected such a drastic change in their employer’s atti...
Shindo 5 Earthquake in Eastern Japan April 1st
An earthquake struck eastern Japan on the morning of April 1st, with the Japan Meteorological Agency reporting a magnitude of 5.0.
The qu...
Wakayama Fails to Hire Statutory Number of People with Disabilities
According to the announcement, as of June 1, 2024, three municipalities, Kinokawa, Shirahama, and Kushimoto, did not meet the statutory employment rat...
Osaka revokes licenses of four Kizuna Holdings employment support facilities over excess disability subsidies
Osaka City said March 27 it had revoked the operating licenses of four disability employment support facilities run by subsidiaries of Kizuna Holdings...
Japan Sees Fewest-Ever Suicides in 2025
According to the report for 2025 compiled jointly by the health ministry and the National Police Agency, the total suicide figure dropped 1,132 from t...
Students with Developmental Disabilities in Japan Rise to 12,000 Nationwide
The number of students diagnosed with developmental disabilities in Japan is increasing. A key issue is how schools provide support. This report looks...
Miyazaki City Day Care Centre for Disabled Children Improperly Claimed 14 Million Yen
Miyazaki City has revoked the designation of service provider ‘Porto’ that supports preschool children with disabilities after it was found to have fr...
Tottori Accepts Liability in Death of Disabled Teen at Care Facility
In an accident in March 2025 at the “Prefectural Comprehensive Rehabilitation Center,” a residential facility for children with disabilities in Yonago...
227,000 people in Japan have ‘Higher Brain Dysfunction’
An estimated 227,000 people in Japan are living with higher brain dysfunction, an “invisible disability” caused by brain damage from strokes or accide...
People with disabilities in Japan face persistent barriers to housing and accommodation
People with disabilities in Japan continue to face significant barriers in securing housing and accommodation, with multiple recent cases highlighting...
Japan’s new guidelines aim to reduce long lines of women at public toilets
Japan’s transport ministry has come up with draft guidelines aimed at reducing long waiting lines at women’s toilets at stations and commercial facili...
Book Review: Alone in Japan by Tom Feiling
I thought ‘Alone in Japan: A Journey to the Future’ by Tom Feiling was interesting and engaging. I recommend the audiobook.
‘Alone in Jap...
Shikoku Island Town Trials New Pedestrian Crossing for Visually Impaired
A pedestrian crossing built to a new standard with wider spacing between white lines than before was introduced this month at an intersection near JR...
Withdrawal of Appeal against Death Sentence Found Valid in KyoAni Case
In the ruling on Tuesday 17th March, Presiding Judge Hisashi Ito said that Aoba clearly understood the meaning of his decision, and that the impact of...
Oita Prefecture receives notebooks to assist hearing-impaired in emergencies
The notebooks include instructions such as “Please call 110 (police)” and are intended for use by people who are deaf or have difficulty speaking, ena...
Patient Dies, Two Critical after Injections at Hospital near Tokyo
A male leukemia patient between 10 and 19 died and two other young male patients are unconscious after spinal injections of anticancer drugs at a hosp...
Japan Ends Milano-Cortina Paralympic Winter Games with 100th Medal & Muraoka Japan’s Most Decorated Winter Paralympian
Japan’s Daichi Oguri won the silver medal in the men’s snowboard banked slalom SB-LL1 event at the Milano-Cortina Paralympics on Friday. This is Japan...
“Stop your damn crying”: Guilty Verdict for Staff Member in Abuse Case at Hyogo Facility for Disabled
In September 2025, a 21-year-old man residing in a welfare facility for people with disabilities in Sanda City, Hyogo Prefecture, was assaulted by a m...
Actor Noburo Takachi on Murder of Disabled Daughter: “I Feel a Discrimination Between Lives”
Referring to “the case in which a mother killed her daughter with a severe disability,” Noburo Takachi mentioned the incident that occurred in Mobara,...
Ex-Tokyo Disability Facility Worker Referred to Prosecutors Over Railroad Crossing Death
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on the 10th referred a 46-year-old former employee of the disability support facility Takinogawa Gakuen Adult...
3/11 Earthquake 15 Years On
Many evacuees from Fukushima Prefecture cite anxiety about a lack of medical services as a reason for their hesitation to return to their hometowns de...
Chiba Mother Arrested Over Alleged Drowning Death of Disabled Daughter
A mother has been arrested on suspicion of killing her daughter by drowning her face in water at a home in Mobara City, Chiba Prefecture. The suspect...
Ancient Verona Arena boosts accessibility for Paralympics opening ceremony
The ancient Verona Arena that hosted the opening ceremony for Friday’s Milan Cortina Paralympic Games has been undergoing a raft of accessibility chan...
Sounds of The Milano-Cortina Winter Paralympics Beginning
The Milano-Cortina Winter Paralympic Games kicked off Friday with an opening ceremony at an amphitheater in Verona, a UNESCO world heritage city in no...
Japan heads to Winter Paralympic Games with biggest team in decades
Japan’s biggest Winter Paralympic delegation in decades will take part in the Milan Cortina Games from Friday, with competitors in multiple events tip...
Tokyo High Court Upholds Unification Church Dissolution Order
Tokyo High Court on Wednesday 4th March upheld a district court order for the dissolution of the controversial religious group Unification Church, str...
Hiroshima Revokes Designation of 7 Facilities for Disabled Children; Fraudulent Claims Affect 214
Hiroshima Prefecture announced on Feb. 27 that it will revoke the designation of four facilities in Etajima City, including “Popo Etajima,” which serv...
Kitakyushu to Revoke Designation of Disability Support Facility Over Fraudulent Benefit Claims
Kitakyushu City said it will revoke the designation of a Type B continuous employment support facility for people with disabilities in Yahatanishi War...
Saitama Social Worker Reports Company for Overcharging Disabled Residents, is Sued for Stealing Documents
Tomoyoshi Aoki, a 51-year-old certified social worker from Saitama Prefecture, says he discovered that his former employer, ‘Nihon Remake’, which oper...
Western Japan Disability Nurses have Difficulties but “no regrets” in Reporting “culture” of Abuse
Three nurses, including Ryusuke Asakura, a 50-year-old former staff member at a municipal support center for people with severe disabilities in Sakai,...
Japan Eyes Strong Showing at Milano-Cortina Paralympics with One Week to Go
With one week to go until the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games open on March 6, Japan is preparing for its 11th appearance at the Winter Pa...
Ibaraki Care Worker Who Reported Abuse Warns Legal Battle May Deter Future Whistleblowers
A care worker who reported the sexual abuse of a female resident at a disability group home in Ibaraki Prefecture has warned that the toll of his subs...
Almost Three Years After Ableist Remarks, Nagoya Aims to Finalize Barrier-Free Policy for Castle Keep
Nagoya City held a meeting with disability groups and others regarding the wooden reconstruction of the main keep of Nagoya Castle. On February 11th t...
Fired After Reporting Abuse, Tokyo Care Worker Awarded 4.8 Million Yen
A former support staff member at a disability workshop in Kodaira, Tokyo, who was dismissed after reporting alleged abuse by colleagues and a senior e...