Disability News Japan
Channel Details
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.
Recent Episodes
666 episodes
Japan’s Health Ministry Produces Manual to Strengthen Guidance and Oversight of Disability Welfare Following Fraud Cases
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has compiled manuals on group guidance, operational inspections, and audits conducted by prefectural govern...
Woman arrested for 19 million Yen fraud targeting parent of child with suspected developmental disorder
A 57-year-old company employee has been arrested on suspicion of defrauding the parents of a child suspected of having a developmental disorder out of...
Mie Prefecture Says Nurse Abused Hospitalized Disabled Child
According to the prefectural government, a male nurse in his 40s working at the Prefectural Child Development Medical Center grabbed the wrist of an e...
Typhoon 7 ‘Mekkhala’ Approaches Eastern Japan on Saturday 27th Evening
Typhoon Mekkhala is expected to move close to the Kanto region of eastern Japan on Saturday night after traveling northeast over the sea off the Shiko...
Double Typhoon Trouble!
Japan's weather agency on Friday warned that a typhoon could approach the country from the Pacific and make landfall the following day, as heavy rain...
Honour-Restoring Ceremony for Leprosy Patients Held in Tokyo
A ceremony was held in Tokyo on Monday to restore the honor of leprosy patients in Japan, who had suffered severe discrimination based on the governme...
6.9M Earthquake Hits Northern Japan
The temblor, with an estimated magnitude of 6.9, occurred around 7:30 a.m. on June 25th at a depth of about 50 kilometers off Iwate Prefecture, south...
Miyazaki Disabled Man Gave Up on Voting After Mother’s Help Deemed Interference by Polling Station Staff
According to the city and other sources, the man requires assistance with walking and also has a visual impairment. He visited the polling station tog...
Driver sentenced for killing pregnant woman leaving unborn child with disability
After prosecutors indicted Chigono in June last year on charges of negligent driving resulting in death, Sayaka Togitani’s husband Yudai Togitani, 34,...
Typhoon 7 ‘Mekkhala’ Expected to Enter Area South of Okinawa Next Week
A tropical cyclone on Saturday developed into a typhoon in waters to the east of the Philippines, the Japan Meteorological Agency has said.
Former Employee of Facility for Disabled Re-arrested for Fourth Time Over Sexual Assault of 9-Year-Old Girl
Goto is suspected of sexually assaulting a girl who attended the facility (then aged 9) in February of the year before last at a restroom in a shoppin...
Yao City Hall Employee Stopped by Station Staff at Ticket Gate; Forged Disability Certificate Found in Bag
On the 12th, the city of Yao, Osaka Prefecture, announced that it had imposed a six-month suspension as a disciplinary measure on a 60-year-old assist...
M5.5 quake jolts eastern Japan near Tokyo, no tsunami warning issued
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 shook eastern Japan including Tokyo on Tuesday, causing some disruptions to the country's transporta...
Kumamoto City Investigates Disability Allowance Re-certification Procedures After “bedridden” Resident Had Welfare Payments Stopped
According to the Kumamoto Ombudsman, the recipient was bedridden and unable to visit a medical institution for an examination, yet the city suspended...
JR East to Shift from Magnetic to QR Code Tickets in 2027
East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, said on Tuesday 9th June that it will discontinue magnetic short-distance tickets sold at all stations on its conv...
8 Billion Yen in Fraudulent Disability Welfare Claims; 936 Administrative Sanctions Issued from FY2020–2024
Fraudulent claims for public disability welfare payments by operators providing services to support the daily lives and employment of people with disa...
Summer Special Olympics Showcase an Inclusive Society in Tokyo as National Games for Athletes with Intellectual Disabilities Opens
The opening ceremony for the 9th Special Olympics Japan Summer National Games, which brings together athletes with intellectual disabilities, was held...
Typhoon 6 ‘Jangmi’ Slams Japan, Moves Away From Mainland, Rain Still Expected
Typhoon Jangmi on Wednesday ripped through the Pacific side of western and eastern Japan after making landfall in the morning, causing flooding and mu...
Tropical Storm ‘Jangmi’ set to lash wide area of Japan
Tropical Storm ‘Jangmi’, known in Japan as typhoon No. 6, is expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds across a swath of the country from Tuesday...
Two Hokkaido Disability Support Facility Workers Arrested; Three Other Staff Members Voluntarily Questioned
Two male employees accused of assaulting residents at a disability support facility in Kushiro, Hokkaido were arrested, it has emerged that several ot...
(Update 2) Typhoon 6 ‘Jangmi’ Moves Towards Japan
Typhoon Jangmi is expected to develop into a large and powerful storm when it reaches the south of Okinawa Prefecture by 9 a.m. on Monday, according t...
(Update) Typhoon 6 ‘Jangmi’ Moves Closer Towards Okinawa
Typhoon Jangmi is expected to develop into a large and powerful storm when it reaches the south of Okinawa Prefecture by 9 a.m. on Monday, according t...
Typhoon 6 ‘Jangmi’ Moves Towards Okinawa
Typhoon Jangmi, also known as Typhoon No. 6, will reach the south of Okinawa Prefecture by 9 a.m. on Monday, according to the Japan Meteorological Age...
Japan’s Disability Pension Review Questioned; Staff Say “No One Will Tell the Truth in Internal Probe”
A controversy has emerged over Japan’s disability pension system after reports that staff at the Japan Pension Service had, in some cases, secretly di...
Sagamihara City staff attend disability awareness training course
During the roughly 45-minute session, the employees watched videos created in collaboration with organizations for people with disabilities to learn a...
Kissei Ordered to Warn over Vasculitis Drug after Fatalities
The drug is estimated to have been administered to 12,000 to 13,000 patients in Japan. All 20 dead patients developed liver dysfunction, and 210 simil...
Japan’s Ministry of Finance calls for spending curbs on welfare services for people with disabilities
At the Fiscal System Subcommittee of the Fiscal System Council held on April 28, discussions were also held on the field of disability welfare. The Mi...
Ibaraki Announces Revocation of Welfare Facility’s License Over 7 Million Yen Fraudulent Benefit Claims
The fraudulent claims amounted to approximately 7 million yen in total, disbursed across 17 municipalities in four prefectures: Ibaraki, Chiba, Saitam...
Disability Advocate Hirotada Ototake Questions Ranking Disabilities by Hierarchy in Social Media
Hirotada Ototake, who was born with a congenital condition resulting in the absence of limbs (“tetra-amelia”), quoted a post by a user who argued that...
Disability in Japan Book Club Time!
My beloved wrote a book about Disability!
Pre-order ‘障害と生きることの現象学: 脳性まひの身体からみえる生活世界’ by 稲原 美苗 (Minae Inah...
Instructor Arrested for Indecent Acts Against Woman with Developmental Disability Told Her They Were “going to practice making a baby”
A former instructor at a support organization arrested on suspicion of committing indecent acts against a woman with a developmental disability during...
Naha-based Disability Employment Agency Scandal: Company Received Fee of 200,000 Yen Per Hire
In a case where disabled persons working from home were employed by large companies through a disability employment agency but were not given any actu...
Passengers Taken to Hospital After Spraying Incident on JR East Train
About 10 passengers were taken to hospital after an emergency report of something being sprayed in a train car on the Tokaido Line section of the Ueno...
Okinawa Company Denies Hiring People with Disabilities and Prohibiting Contact with Employer
Employees with disabilities were referred to as “talents,” and “connections between talents via chat tools, social media, etc., are prohibited,” forbi...
Japan's Labour Ministry Suspects Abuse of Remote Work Systems for People with Disabilities as Use Triples
According to Health, Labour, and Welfare Ministry data released on the 4th, the number of vocational training centres for the disabled where “more tha...
On People With Disabilities Who Go Missing in Japan
After a man with disabilities went missing from a ‘Group Home’ in Tokyo recently, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police requested information from the public...
Osaka City files criminal complaint against Kizuna Holdings over 15 billion Yen in fraudulent disability employment support funds
The city of Osaka has filed a criminal complaint against the operating company of Kizuna Holdings (HD), which had been subject to administrative sanct...
Japanese Tabloid Investigates Misuse Of Disability ‘Help Mark’ as ‘Life Hack’
The Japanese tabloid magazine ‘FRIDAY’ has been investigating misuse of the ‘Help Mark’, which was designed to help people with disabilities alert peo...
Some Notes on Blindness in Japan During Golden Week
A lawsuit is being heard at the Imabari branch of the Matsuyama District Court in which a visually impaired woman is seeking approximately 1.7 million...
The Showa Day Pod: Earthquake Advisories Lifted & ‘Disability Dating App’ Fraudster Suspects Re-Arrested
Tokyo police have re-arrested two men, including the alleged leader of a group accused of exploiting a dating app aimed at people with disabilities, i...