Disability News Japan

Not a happy weekend with a typhoon near Okinawa and I do wish more attention could be paid to Employment Support Agency fraud.

In the case involving a teenage girl with an intellectual disability who was allegedly confined in a closet at her family’s home in Machida, in which her parents and two brothers – a total of four people – were arrested and indicted, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s First Investigation Division on July 6 arrested another teenage brother on suspicion of unlawful confinement, according to...

Following an incident where two former male staff members were arrested on suspicion of assault for physically abusing a resident at the “Tsurugaoka Gakuen” disability support facility in Kushiro City, the operating social welfare corporation, “Kushiro Aiiku Kyokai,” has drafted an improvement plan and submitted it to the Hokkaido prefectural government. In addition to reviewing security camera fo...

A tragic accident has raised questions after a 10-year-old boy attending a special needs school in Komatsu City went missing during class and was later found dead in a nearby waterfall. According to the school, the boy had a relatively mild disability and had no difficulty communicating. However, three years ago he had left the school building through the main entrance on his own. Since then, the...

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has compiled manuals on group guidance, operational inspections, and audits conducted by prefectural governments and other authorities for disability welfare service providers, and distributed them to local governments on the 8th. Until now, the ministry had only outlined its approach through training sessions. The new manuals are intended to strengthen g...

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 approximately ¥19 million (about US$130,000) by recommending the child study abroad. Police believe the suspect may have used the same scheme to defraud multiple victims of more than ¥50 million in total and are continuing their investigation. Episo...

According to the prefectural government, a male nurse in his 40s working at the Prefectural Child Development Medical Center grabbed the wrist of an elementary school boy, who was hospitalized at the facility and lying on his back in a hallway, and dragged him approximately 10 meters in January this year. Episode notes: ‘Mie Prefecture Says Nurse Abused Hospitalized Disabled Child’: https://barrie...

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 Shikoku western region earlier in the day. The seventh typhoon of the year is then expected to turn into an extratropical cyclone.

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 fell across western and eastern regions. Along with the possible landfall of Typhoon Higos, the Japan Meteorological Agency also expressed concern about another typhoon, Mekkhala, which approached the Amami region in Kagoshima Prefecture in southwest...

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 government’s past forced isolation policy.”We former patients and their families still live silently, hiding ourselves from prejudice and discrimination that are still swirling,” said Isao Tateyama, head of a group of plaintiffs in damages lawsuit against th...

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 of Aomori, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. No tsunamis are believed to have occurred as a result of the earthquake.

According to the city and other sources, the man requires assistance with walking and also has a visual impairment. He visited the polling station together with his mother. Because it took him some time to complete his ballot, his mother spoke to him while standing nearby. However, polling station staff judged her actions to constitute “voting interference,” which is prohibited under the Public Of...

After prosecutors indicted Chigono in June last year on charges of negligent driving resulting in death, Sayaka Togitani’s husband Yudai Togitani, 34, and her father Atsushi Mizukawa, 62, asked prosecutors in September to recognize Hinami as a victim and also charge the suspect with negligent driving resulting in injury of the daughter. Episode notes: ‘Driver sentenced for killing pregnant woman l...

A tropical cyclone on Saturday developed into a typhoon in waters to the east of the Philippines, the Japan Meteorological Agency has said. Typhoon Mekkhala, the seventh this year, is expected to move westward and come closer to Japan through early next week and is later expected to reach the area to the south of the Yaeyama Islands in southwestern Okinawa Prefecture, according to the agency. Epis...

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 shopping mall in Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture, knowing that she was under the age of 13. He is also suspected of filming the assault. Goto had previously been arrested and indicted for allegedly committing indecent acts against a five-year-old girl who al...

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 assistant section chief in the Environmental Department for attempting to ride the railway without paying the proper fare and for forging a physical disability certificate. The employee reportedly submitted his resignation on the same day, which was accept...

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 shook eastern Japan including Tokyo on Tuesday, causing some disruptions to the country's transportation services, but no tsunami warning was issued. The focus of the 7:46 p.m. quake was in Ibaraki Prefecture northeast of Tokyo at about 50 kilometers underground, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. Episode notes: ‘M5.5 quake jolts eastern...

According to the Kumamoto Ombudsman, the recipient was bedridden and unable to visit a medical institution for an examination, yet the city suspended the allowance on the grounds that the required medical certificate had not been submitted. The Ombudsman pointed out that the recipient’s relatives had consulted the city about alternative means of completing the procedure, but the city had not accep...

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 conventional lines and replace them with QR code tickets in spring 2027. While the current tickets are inserted into fare gates, the new tickets will require passengers to read QR codes on them at readers at the gates. Episode notes: ‘JR East to Shift fr...

Fraudulent claims for public disability welfare payments by operators providing services to support the daily lives and employment of people with disabilities totalled approximately ¥8 billion nationwide over the five years from fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2024, it was revealed on the 6th. The figure was obtained by Kyodo News through an information disclosure request for data held by the Ministry of He...

The opening ceremony for the 9th Special Olympics Japan Summer National Games, which brings together athletes with intellectual disabilities, was held on the 5th at Toyota Arena Tokyo in Koto Ward, Tokyo. About 1,200 athletes from all 47 prefectures are taking part, supported by a cumulative total of approximately 3,300 volunteers. The sporting event, which aims to embody an inclusive society wher...

Typhoon Jangmi on Wednesday ripped through the Pacific side of western and eastern Japan after making landfall in the morning, causing flooding and mudslides and leaving dozens of people injured. The typhoon made landfall around 4:30 a.m. in the southern part of Wakayama Prefecture in western Japan, after it passed near Okinawa and Kagoshima prefectures the past two days. At one point, the weather...

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 to Wednesday. The storm is forecast to come closest to Okinawa on Monday night and to the Amami region by Tuesday morning, before moving northeast and approaching the Kyushu, Shikoku, Kinki, Tokai and Kanto-Koshin regions through Wednesday, according...

Two male employees accused of assaulting residents at a disability support facility in Kushiro, Hokkaido were arrested, it has emerged that several other staff members have also been voluntarily questioned by police. Episode notes: ‘Two Hokkaido Disability Support Facility Workers Arrested; Three Other Staff Members Voluntarily Questioned’: https://barrierfreejapan.com/2026/05/30/two-hokkaido-disa...

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 to the Japan Weather Association. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, as of 9 a.m. on Saturday, Jangmi was moving northwest over the waters east of the Philippines at a speed of 15 kph. The central pressure is 992 hectopascals, and the maxim...