It has been revealed that a disability welfare service company with its headquarters in Shinjo City has indicated its intention to close its seven Type A continuous employment support offices in the prefecture at the end of March next year. According to the company, it plans to close seven Type A continuous employment support offices, where disabled people work under employment contracts, in Shinjo City, Murayama City, and other locations at the end of March next year, and lay off over 200 employees. 

The company explained the reason for closing the facilities as follows: "The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has indicated its intention to abolish the annual income requirement for social insurance premiums. If this is abolished, we estimate that our annual burden will increase by approximately 68 million yen. It will be difficult to generate profits that correspond to this."

Episode Notes: 

‘Disability welfare service company to close seven offices in Yamagata prefecture’:

https://barrierfreejapan.com/2025/02/15/disability-welfare-service-company-to-close-seven-offices-in-yamagata-prefecture/

People with Disabilities in Yamagata Face Redundancy as Seven Employment Offices are Due to Close

NHK E will begin airing a ‘welfare’ TV Programme on NHK E called ‘toi-toi’ from April 2025.​ On January 7th 2025, it was announced on the official website that NHK Educational TV’s barrier-free variety show “Baribara” (broadcast on Thursdays 8pm) would end in March 2025. However, it promised a replacement in the TV schedule.

According to the NHK E Website ‘toi-toi’ is a “new welfare program where everyone thinks about the “question” that a person has had deep in their heart. The protagonist who posed the “question” explores the “question” while talking to people with diverse perspectives. We will search for clues to realize a world where we accept differences and live together.”

‘toi-toi’ will be broadcast on NHK E on Thursdays at 8PM.

Episode notes:

‘New ‘Welfare’ NHK E TV Programme ‘toi-toi’ to Start in April 2025, Replacing ‘NHK Baribara’:

https://barrierfreejapan.com/2025/02/18/new-welfare-nhk-e-tv-programme-toi-toi-to-start-in-april-2025-replacing-nhk-baribara/

NHK ‘toi-toi’ Website:

https://www.nhk.jp/p/ts/72L62Z715X/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1Fdd9IHB58Cu6s5gxn6FqG-OuK66CXNO2cBaauyW4O0zjA201DKA5eGO0_aem_FZyIi2Vq9bF3GgVtfWyqeA

New ‘Welfare’ NHK E TV Programme ‘toi-toi’ to Start in April 2025, Replacing ‘NHK Baribara’

At the first hearing of the lay judge trial held at the Chiba District Court on February 17th, the defendant admitted to the charges, saying, "I did nothing wrong." The defense responded by arguing that the father had reached his limit with caring for his son, and that the sentence should be considered in light of the circumstances leading up to the incident.

Episode notes:

‘78-year-old Chiba father pleads guilty to murder of disabled 44-year-old son saying “I did nothing wrong” ’:

https://barrierfreejapan.com/2025/02/20/78-year-old-chiba-father-pleads-guilty-to-murder-of-disabled-44-year-old-son-saying-i-did-nothing-wrong/

Chiba father, 78, pleads guilty to murder of disabled 44-year-old son saying “I did nothing wrong”

On February 19th, the Niigata District Court handed down a sentence of 14 years in prison to a former employee of an organization, who was charged with crimes including sexually assaulting and injuring a woman with a disability while transporting her in Sanjo City. The court ruled that “he repeatedly committed the crime, taking advantage of the fact that the victim could not resist, which is despicable.”

Episode Notes:

‘Former Niigata NPO employee sentenced to 14 years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman with a disability’:

https://barrierfreejapan.com/2025/02/24/former-niigata-npo-employee-sentenced-to-14-years-in-prison-for-sexually-assaulting-a-woman-with-a-disability/


Former Niigata NPO employee sentenced to 14 years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman with a disability

The Japan Branch of the NPO Disabled People’ International (DPI), located in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, will hold an online rally on the theme of “Prisoners with disabilities and their right to use wheelchairs” on Saturday, April 5, 2025.

The rally is being held in response to a ruling handed down in a lawsuit seeking ‘reasonable accommodation’ in Gifu, a lawsuit concerning an alleged human rights violation in which an inmate with walking difficulties was denied wheelchair access at Gifu Prison for over 10 years. On October 30, 2024, the Gifu District Court did not recognize the denial of wheelchair access as illegal and ruled against the plaintiff.

Episode notes: 

‘Disabled People International Japan Branch to Hold ‘Online Rally’ on “Prisoners with Disabilities and the Right to Use Wheelchairs” ’:

https://barrierfreejapan.com/2025/02/26/disabled-people-international-japan-branch-to-hold-online-rally-on-prisoners-with-disabilities-and-the-right-to-use-wheelchairs/

DPI Website:

https://www.dpi-japan.org/blog/events/disabled-inmates-and-wheelchair-access-rights-rally/

Disabled People International Japan Branch to Hold ‘Online Rally’ on “Prisoners with Disabilities and the Right to Use Wheelchairs”

A report by All Nippon News Network (ANN) broadcast on February 28th confirmed that the seven employment support offices of the company ‘Union Social System’ that has its headquarters in Shinjo City, Yamagata prefecture, will close in March 2026; leading to 217 employees losing their jobs, a result of the so-called "1.06 million yen barrier.”

Episode Notes:

‘Yamagata Employment Support Offices for Disabled Closures Confirmed, Seven Offices to Close in March 2026, 217 Layoffs’:

https://barrierfreejapan.com/2025/03/01/yamagata-employment-support-offices-for-disabled-closures-confirmed-seven-offices-to-close-in-march-2026-217-layoffs/


Yamagata Employment Support Offices for Disabled Closures Confirmed, Seven Offices to Close in March 2026, 217 Layoffs

The final episode of NHK’s TV programme on minorities ‘Baribara’ will air on NHK E on Thursday March 6th 2024 at 20:00PM. It will look back on the 15 years of the programme covering the issues concerning minority groups in Japan.

NHK ‘Baribara’ Website:
 
https://www.nhk.jp/p/baribara/ts/8Q416M6Q79/episode/te/X4G14WJ361/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3lm_sjqkgRcXoriLFGcnhx4xjVVOkkunC39QgIO8CeqlmiC25tz_qbW1k_aem_IkpwKm5ZFRuT4FU8-H8xLw

Final Episode of NHK’s ‘Barrier Free Variety’ TV Show Airs on March 6th 2025

In August 2024, Ms. Koyuki Hamano, 16, an intellectually disabled girl who was a resident of Chiba City, was rejected from the Chiba prefectural high school entrance examination, and asked the prefectural government to cancel her rejection, the Chiba District Court rejected her request to be provisionally obligated to enroll in the school. On February 4, Hamano's parents held a press conference in the city and announced that they have given up on the idea of continuing her education in the prefecture, terminated the trial, and that she will enroll in a Tokyo metropolitan high school from April.

Episode Notes: ‘Intellectually Disabled Girl Has to Move from Chiba to Tokyo to Attend High School’:

https://barrierfreejapan.com/2025/03/05/intellectually-disabled-girl-has-to-move-from-chiba-to-tokyo-to-attend-high-school/

Intellectually Disabled Girl Has to Move from Chiba to Tokyo to Attend High School

On the 27th of last month, Sho Tanaka, 31, a doctor, was found collapsed in a space on the first basement floor of an elevator in a commercial building in Chuo Ward, Kobe, and later died. Before Dr. Tanaka was found, a store employee saw the elevator's fourth floor door open with no “cage” in place.

Episode Notes:

‘Police Investigate Elevator Management Company After Man Dies in Kobe Elevator Accident’:

https://barrierfreejapan.com/2025/03/07/police-investigate-elevator-management-company-after-man-dies-in-kobe-elevator-accident/


Police Investigate Elevator Management Company After Man Dies in Kobe Elevator Accident

Barrier Free Japan found a copy of ‘Hunchback’ by Saou Ichikawa in the Osaka Umeda branch of Kinokuniya. I have been looking forward to reading this. Saou Ichikawa’s ‘Hunchback’ won the Akutagawa Prize in 2023.

I would love to meet Saou Ichikawa. 

As people with disabilities we are not meant to use terms like ‘inspires’, but as a fellow person with disabilities, she ’inspires’ me to write fiction about having a disability in Japan - Ichikawa has congenital myopathy.

‘Hunchback’ (Amazon JP): 

https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Saou-Ichikawa/dp/0241700787/ref=sr_1_1?crid=YWLMGXWX9HX0&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.tviLY6Hihc9Wld73kSNFDNgIMyu95jzmtY1FHVvoFbo.O-ev19sX2ziT9J5aBh6OU0KTipw5EKycw-KkJEItoZw&dib_tag=se&keywords=hunchback+saou+ichikawa&qid=1741701309&sprefix=%2Caps%2C187&sr=8-1

Saou Ichikawa’s Akutagawa Prize-Winning Novel ‘Hunchback’ Now Translated into English

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 available every Friday at 6am Japan Time.

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