ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION

Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Implementation of the Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Initial reports submitted by State Parties
under article 35 of the Convention
Japan

June 2016

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Contents
Part 1 Overview
I
The process leading to the Conclusion of the Convention and Where we standII
General Information on Japan
III Policies for Realizing Rights under the Convention, Strategies, Domestic
Legislative Framework, and Comprehensive Framework to Ensure Eliminationof Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities
IV Resources for Realizing Rights under the Convention and Pursuit of
Cost-Effective Methods
Part 2 Details
Article 1
Purpose
Article 2
Definitions
Article 3
General principles
Article 4
General obligations
Article 5
Equality and non-discrimination
Article 6
Women with disabilities
Article 7Children with disabilities
Article 8
Awareness-raising
Article 9
Accessibility
Article 10 Right to life
Article 11 Situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies
Article 12 Equal recognition before the law
Article 13 Access to justice
Article 14 Liberty and security of person
Article 15 Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment
Article 16 Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse
Article 17 Protecting the integrity of the person
Article 18 Liberty of movement and nationality
Article 19 Living independently and being included in the community
Article 20 Personal mobility
Article 21 Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information
Article 22 Respect for privacy
Article 23 Respect for home and the family
Article 24 Education
Article 25 Health
Article 26 Habilitation and rehabilitation
Article 27 Work and employment
Article 28 Adequate standard of living and social protection
Article 29 Participation in political and public life
Article 30 Participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport
Article 31 Statistics and data collection
Article 32 International cooperation

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Article 33 National implementation and monitoring
Appendix
Summary of Discussions―Challenges Based on the Status of Implementation of the
Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities (Third)―
List of Tables(Number of persons with disabilities)
Table 1.
Number of persons with disabilities
Table 2.
Changes in the number of persons with disabilities by age group(children and persons with physical disabilities, at home)
Table 3.
The number of children and persons with physical disabilities (at home)by age group (per 1,000 population)
Table 4.
Changes in the number of persons with disabilities by age group(children and persons with intellectual disabilities, at home)
Table 5.
Changes in the number of persons with disabilities by age group(persons with mental disabilities, outpatients)
Table 6.
Changes in the number of persons with disabilities by type of disability(children and persons with physical disabilities, at home)
Table 7.
Changes in the number of persons with disabilities by type of disability(persons with mental disabilities, outpatients)
Table 8.
Number of persons holding a physical disability certificate, by type ofphysical disability and of disability grade (at home)
Table 9.
Number of children and persons with physical disabilities by diseasetype (at home)
Table 10.
Change in the number of persons with disabilities by degree of severity(children and persons with physical disabilities, at home)
Table 11.
Number of children and persons with intellectual disabilities by degreeof severity (at home)
Table 12.
Number of persons who received the health and welfare certificate ofpersons with mental disorders(Living)
Table 13.
Housing conditions of persons with physical disabilities, persons withintellectual disabilities, and persons with mental disabilities (at home)
Table 14.
Conditions regarding admission of children and persons with physicaldisabilities and intellectual disabilities in the main facilities
Table 15.
With or without housemate
Table 16.
With or without spouse
Table 17.
Benefits and services under the Act on Comprehensive Support for
Persons with Disabilities
Table 18.
Future prospects, etc. of service users
Table 19.
Change in the amount of pension, allowance and benefits(Childcare, education)
Table 20.
Conditions pertaining to daytime living (persons with physicaldisabilities and intellectual disabilities) (at home) (multiple answers)
Table 21.
“Person to consult when at a loss” (persons with physical disabilities,

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persons with intellectual disabilities) (at home) (multiple answers)
Table 22.
Number of schools, number of enrolled students and number of teachersand staff―total of national, public and private schools―
Table 23.
Number of special needs education classes, number of students enrolledin special needs education classes and number of teachers ―total ofnational, public and private schools―
Table 24.
Rate of establishment of Classes for children and students withmultiple disabilities at special needs education school―total of national,
public and private schools―
Table 25.
Number of students receiving special guidance support service inresource rooms
Table 26.
Situation after graduation from the junior high division of special needs
education schools and special needs education classes of junior highschools―total of national, public and private schools―
Table 27.
Situation after graduation from high school (full-time and night-time)
and the high school division of special needs education schools―total ofnational, public and private schools―
Table 28.
Special considerations for entrance examinations (number of examinees)(Working, income)Table 29.
Number of employed persons with disabilities (employment rate bygender) (private business establishments with five or more employees)
Table 30.
Rate of employed persons with disabilities by industry and by gender(unit: %)Table 31.
Rate of employed persons with disabilities by gender and by form of
employment (unit: %)Table 32.
Rate of employed persons with disabilities by gender and by regular
weekly working hours (unit: %)Table 33.
Rate of employed persons with disabilities by gender and by job type
(unit: %)Table 34.
Change in actual employment rate and the number of employees ofprivate companies
Table 35.
Employment situation of persons with disabilities in national and local
governments, etc. (by type of disability)
Table 36.
Average monthly wage
Table 37.
Status of job placement services for persons with disabilities at Hello
Work offices(Accessibility improvement)
Table 38.
Targets of accessibility improvement
Table 39.
Promotion of barrier-free passenger facilities
Table 40.
Trend regarding the promotion of barrier-free vehicles, etc.
Table 41.
Change in the number of participants of barrier-free learning classes
Table 42.
Achievement of Closed-captioned, etc. broadcasts (FY2014)

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Overview
Ⅰ The process leading to the Conclusion of the Convention and Where we stand1. On January 20, 2014, Japan deposited the instrument of ratification of theConvention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (hereinafter the “Convention”)
with the UN Secretary-General. Pursuant to the provisions of Article 45 thereof, theConvention entered into force for Japan on February 19, 2014. The Initial Report of
the Japanese Government covers the period from the time when the Convention
entered into force for Japan to the end of February 2016. The Report contains thecomments of the Commission on Policy for Persons with Disabilities (hereinafter the“Policy Commission”) that functions as the monitoring framework specified in Article
33 of the Convention, and includes the attached document compiling the results ofmonitoring of the status of implementation of the Basic Program for Persons with
Disabilities (Third), which forms the basis of measures for persons with disabilities
that has been conducted by the Policy Commission in preparation for the submissionof the Report. During the preparation process, the draft of the Report was also opened
for public comments in order to receive opinions from a wide sector beyond the Policy
Commission.
2. Japan signed the Convention on September 28, 2007, a year after the adoption of theConvention at the UN General Assembly. The Japanese Government received
opinions from persons with disabilities and other relevant persons in Japan to theeffect that the reform of various systems for persons with disabilities, including thedevelopment of domestic legislations, should be promoted before ratification of theConvention. Taking into consideration these opinions, in December 2009, theJapanese Government established the Ministerial Board of Disability Policy Reform,
headed by the Prime Minister and comprising all cabinet ministers as members, inorder to intensively reform the systems and policies for persons with disabilities. As aresult, various reforms such as the revision of the Basic Act for Persons with
Disabilities (August 2011), the revision of the Services and Supports for Persons with
Disabilities Act (June 2012) (amended as the Act on Comprehensive Support for Daily
and Social Lives of Persons with Disabilities (hereinafter the “Act on Comprehensive
Support for Persons with Disabilities”)), the enactment of the Act for Eliminating
Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (hereinafter the “Persons with
Disabilities Discrimination Elimination Act”), and the revision of the Act for
Employment Promotion etc. of Persons with Disabilities (hereinafter the “Act for the
Promotion of Employment for Persons with Disabilities” ) (June 2013) were conducted.

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The aforementioned efforts by Japan to enhance domestic systems for persons withdisabilities before the conclusion of the Convention have been highly appreciateddomestically as well as overseas.
3. Based on the recognition that the implementation of the Convention requires
sustained effort, the Japanese Government has committed itself to implementing
policies while receiving opinions from persons with disabilities as well as otherrelevant persons. One of the challenges is to improve relevant statistical data. In
particular, the collection of data on the realization of each Convention rightdisaggregated by sex, age, type of disability, etc. in consideration of the needs of
persons with disabilities and other relevant persons is required. Therefore, theJapanese Government intends to improve such statistical data by the time the Second
Report is submitted. The Policy Commission intensively reviewed the areas of“support for decision making, etc., including the adult guardianship,” “support for thehospital-to-community transition of persons with mental disabilities, persons withsevere disabilities, etc. in need of medical care,” “the inclusive education system,”“employment,” and “information accessibility,” which are considered as important
challenges for measures for persons with disabilities, as well as cross-sectional
challenges such as “women with disabilities” and “statistics concerning persons withdisabilities.”
Ⅱ General Information on Japan
4. See the “Common core document forming part of the reports of States parties”(HRI/CORE/JPN/2012) for general information on Japan, including its geographic
description and demographic characteristics, etc.
Ⅲ

Policies for Realizing Rights under the Convention, Strategies, Domestic

Legislative Framework, and Comprehensive Framework to Ensure Elimination ofDiscrimination against Persons with Disabilities
5.The protection of fundamental human rights is an important pillar of the Constitutionof Japan, of which Article 97 stipulates that fundamental human rights are“conferred upon this and future generations in trust, to be held for all time inviolate.”
These fundamental human rights include: (i) civil liberties such as the right to liberty
and the rights to freedom of expression, thought and conscience, and religion; (ii)social rights such as the right to receive education and the right to maintain theminimum standards of wholesome and cultured living. Article 14 of the Constitution
stipulates that all the people are equal under the law and there shall be no2

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discrimination.
6. The fundamental human rights of persons with disabilities are guaranteed under theConstitution. In particular, for the purpose of comprehensively and systematicallypromoting measures to support the independence and social participation of persons
with disabilities and thereby improving their welfare, the Basic Act forCountermeasures Concerning Mentally and Physically Disabled Persons wasestablished on May 21, 1970. After the Basic Act was revised on several occasions,
including changing the title in 1993 to the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities, theBasic Act was further revised in 2011 to reflect the objective of the Convention therein.
The main points regarding the revision are: the definition of “persons withdisabilities” was changed to include the concept of a so-called “social model”;
provisions concerning “reasonable accommodation” were established in Japan’s
domestic laws for the first time; and changes related to the establishment of the
Policy Commission (See Article 33, “National implementation and monitoring” fordetails of the Policy Commission).
7. Based on Article 11 of the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities, the Japanese
Government is required to establish the Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities
as the most fundamental plan to be implemented by the Japanese Government for
persons with disabilities. At present, the Japanese Government promotes measures tosupport the independence and social participation of persons with disabilities basedon the Third Basic Program, which was established in 2013 and covers a period of
approximately five years from FY2013 to FY2017.
8.Article 11 of the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities obligates prefectural
governments to establish a “Prefectural Government Program for Persons with
Disabilities” based on the Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities and inconsideration of the situation of persons with disabilities in each prefecture, andmunicipal governments to establish a “Municipal Government Program for Persons
with Disabilities” based on the Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities and thePrefectural Government Program for Persons with Disabilities and in considerationof the situation of persons with disabilities in each municipality. As of the end of
March 2014, all prefectures and 1,651 municipalities (94.8% of the total) had
established programs.
9. With respect to health and welfare measures for persons with disabilities, a unified
framework for welfare services, etc. for persons with disabilities, which is notdependent on the type of disability, was established for persons with physical,
intellectual and mental disabilities under the Services and Supports for Persons with3

ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSIONDisabilities Act enforced from April 1, 2006. This was established along with anotherframework that can facilitate the hospital-to-community transition of persons withdisabilities and provide support for their employment, and in which persons withdisabilities can use welfare services, consultation support, etc. that are necessary tolive an independent daily life and fulfilling social life.
Based on the basic agreement between the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare(MHLW) and the group of plaintiffs and attorneys supporting a lawsuit claiming theunconstitutionality of the Services and Supports for Persons with Disabilities Act(January 2010) as well as recommendations, etc. compiled by the General Welfare
Committee of the Council for Institutional Reform for Persons with Disabilities
created in the Cabinet Office (August 2011), the Act to revise part of the Services andSupports for Persons with Disabilities Act was established in June 2012. As a result,
the title of the Services and Supports for Persons with Disabilities Act was amended
to the Act on Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities. At the same time,
the Act was revised to include provisions concerning the basic philosophy andexpansion of the scope of persons with disabilities (to include intractable/rare
diseases). Based on the Act, measures are continuously implemented to help realize
the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the community.
10.With respect to “discrimination on the basis of disability” and “reasonableaccommodation,” the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities that was revised in 2011provides the basic principle that prohibits an act of discrimination or any other act
which violates the interests or rights of a person with a disability on the basis of thedisability, and additionally provides that when a person with a disability requires theremoval of a social barrier and if the burden associated with said implementation is
not excessive, reasonable accommodation must be given to implementing the removalof the social barrier in an effort to avoid discrimination against him/her (paragraphs 1
and 2, Article 4 of the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities).
11.With respect to “prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability,” the Persons
with Disabilities Discrimination Elimination Act that was established in 2013
prohibits administrative organizations and the private businesses sector fromviolating the rights and interests of persons with disabilities through unfair
discriminatory treatment on the basis of disability, and provides that when a personwith a disability requires the removal of a social barrier and if the burden associatedwith said implementation is not excessive, reasonable accommodation must be given
to implementing the removal of the social barrier so as not to violate his/her rights
and interests (the private businesses sector must make an effort to provide
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reasonable accommodation) (Articles 7 and 8 of the Persons with Disabilities
Discrimination Elimination Act).
12. With respect to discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, partof the Act for the Promotion of Employment for Persons with Disabilities was revisedin 2013. In particular, to substantiate the prohibition of discrimination against
persons with disabilities in work and employment as specified in Article 27 of theConvention, Articles 34 and 35 of the revised Act for the Promotion of Employment for
Persons with Disabilities prohibit business operators from treating persons withdisabilities in an unfair discriminatory manner on the basis of disability inemployment, while Articles 36-2 and 36-3 of the same revised Act obligate business
operators to take measures to remove obstacles that prevent persons with disabilities
from carrying out work in the workplace (reasonable accommodation), insofar as theburden for doing so is not excessive.
13.Based on Articles 36 and 36-5 of the revised Act for the Promotion of Employment for
Persons with Disabilities, Guidelines for employers on proper treatment of persons
with disabilities in regard to matters set forth in the provisions relating to theprohibition of discrimination against people with disabilities, and Guidelines for
employers on measures to ensure equal opportunities or treatment for people withdisabilities in regard to employment and eliminate barriers so that people withdisabilities can use their abilities effectively were established in March 2015 and,following a period of vigorous efforts to make them known to employers’ organizations
and the like, enforced in April 2016. Furthermore, Chapter 3-2 of the same Act
provides that if a conflict over the prohibition of discrimination against persons withdisabilities in employment and the provision of reasonable accommodation occurs
between business operators and workers with disabilities, business operators must
make an effort to voluntarily resolve the conflict upon submission of the latter’s
complaints, and Directors of Prefectural Labour Bureaus can provide necessary
advice, guidance or recommendation, and if deemed necessary, can ask Dispute
Coordinating Committees to intervene in such conflicts.
Resources for Realizing Rights under the Convention and Pursuit of Cost-Effective

Ⅳ

Methods
14. Measures for persons with disabilities in Japan are implemented by the relevant
ministries and agencies after budgets are earmarked. The FY2015 budget formeasures for persons with disabilities amounts to 1,723.3 billion yen. The main
budgeted measures for FY2015 include the provision of welfare services to enable
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children and persons with disabilities to live in their local community or familiar
locations, rehabilitation support for children with disabilities, and projects to support
the community life of persons with disabilities, etc. The budget for living support
measures, including the above, totals 1,133 billion yen. Although the total budget formeasures for persons with disabilities in 2011 was 1,356.5 billion yen, it increased byapproximately 366.8 billion yen, or approximately 27%, over four years.
15. In Japan, budgets for employment injury benefits, disability pension, etc. are notincluded in those for measures for persons with disabilities, but are included in thosefor respective measures.
Part 2

Details

Article 1

Purpose

16.Based on the objective of the Convention, the 2011 revised Basic Act for Persons with
Disabilities provides that this Act, in accordance with the principle that all citizens,
regardless of whether or not they have a disability, should be entitled to dignity as
irreplaceable individuals enjoying fundamental human rights, aims to promotemeasures for persons with disabilities in order to ensure that no citizens are
distinguished according to whether or not they have a disability as well as therealization of a society of coexistence with mutual respect for personality andindividuality(Article 1 of the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities).

17. Concerning the definition of “persons with disabilities,” the pre-revised Basic Act for
Persons with Disabilities defined a person with a disability as “a person who
continuously faces substantial limitations in his/her daily life or social life because of
his/her physical disability, intellectual disability or mental disability (hereinafterreferred to collectively as “disabilities”).” However, the 2011 revised Act, withreference to the so-called social model, defined a person with a disability as a personwith a physical disability, a person with an intellectual disability, a person with amental disability (including developmental disabilities), and other persons withdisabilities affecting the function of the body or mind (hereinafter referred tocollectively as “disabilities”), and who are in a state of facing substantial limitationsin their continuous daily life or social life because of a disability or a social barrier(Article 2 of the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities). The Persons with Disabilities
Discrimination Elimination Act has adopted the same definition with regard to
persons with disabilities.
18.Similarly, social barriers were defined as “items, institutions, practices, ideas, andother things in society that stand against persons with disabilities engaging in daily
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life or social life.”
Article 2

Definitions

19. See Part 1 “Overview,” Article 1 “Purpose” and Article 5 “Equality andnon-discrimination” for measures to eliminate discrimination against persons withdisabilities.
20. The “Outline for the Promotion of Barrier-Free and Universal Design” adopted at
the Meeting of Relevant Cabinet Ministers on the Barrier-free and Universal Designin March 2008 understands “universal design” to mean that facilities and/or goods aredesigned to avoid creating new barriers so that they can be used by all persons. With
respect to the promotion of universal design, the Outline provides that universal
design is a challenge not only for a small number of relevant persons but also for each
citizen, and that universal design efforts should be promoted in society as a whole,with such efforts promoted based on the understanding that active exchange andinformation-sharing is carried out between relevant persons.
Article 3

General principles

21. Before ratifying the Convention, Japan established and revised laws in accordancewith the objective of the Convention. Regarding the objective of each item of thegeneral principles specified in Article 3 of the Convention, Japan acted as follows.
22.With respect to items (a) and (c) of Article 3, the 2011 revised Basic Act for Persons
with Disabilities, assuming that all persons with disabilities should be entitled todignity as individuals enjoying fundamental human rights equally to persons without
disabilities, and possess the right to be guaranteed a life befitting of such dignity,
provides the basic principle that all persons with disabilities are guaranteed theopportunity to participate in activities in society, the economy, culture, and otherfields as constituent members of society and are not precluded from co-existing withother people in the local community so as to promote their participation and inclusion
in society (Article 3 of the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities). See Article 19,“Living independently and being included in the community,” and others for the
inclusion of persons with disabilities in the local community.
23. See Part 1, “Overview,” and Article 5, “Equality and non-discrimination” for item (b)and (e) of Article 3.
24. With respect to item (d) of Article 3, Article 1-2 of the Act on Comprehensive Support
for Persons with Disabilities, which was established in 2012 pursuant to the revisionof the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities in 2011, provided the fundamental
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principles that the Act on Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities must
aim to achieve. In particular, the following principles are specified: all citizens should
be entitled to dignity as individuals enjoying fundamental human rights; a society ofcoexistence in which no citizens are divided based on the presence of disability should
be realized; necessary support should be available in the immediate environment; theopportunity to participate in activities in society should be guaranteed; theopportunity to choose where and with whom persons with disabilities live should beguaranteed; and social barriers should be removed.
25. See Article 9, “Accessibility” for item (f) of Article 3and Article 6, “Women withdisabilities” for item (g) of Article 3.
26.With respect to item (h) of Article 3, Article 3 of the Basic Act on Education provides
that a society must be structured such that people can continue to learn on all
occasions and in all places, and can suitably apply the results of their learning torefine themselves. Article 4 of the Basic Act on Education provides that people mustbe given equal opportunities to receive an education suited to their abilities, and thenational and local governments shall provide the necessary educational support toensure that persons with disabilities receive an adequate education in accordancewith their level of disability.
Article 4

General obligations

With respect to paragraph 1 of Article 4,
27. The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that no person may commit an
act of discrimination or any other act that violates the interests or rights of a personwith a disability on the basis of the disability (paragraph 1, Article 4 of the Basic Act).
Assuming that all persons with disabilities should be entitled to dignity as
individuals enjoying fundamental human rights and possess the right to beguaranteed a life befitting of such dignity, Article 3 of the Basic Act for Persons with
Disabilities provides the basic principle that all persons with disabilities areguaranteed the opportunity to participate in activities in society, the economy, culture,and other fields as constituent members of society.
28.Concerning goods, services, equipment and facilities of “universal design” as definedin Article 2 of the Convention and research, development and promotion of, andprovision of information on new equipment suitable for persons with disabilities, theBasic Program for Persons with Disabilities (Third) (II-3) provides that the national
government, as one of the “cross-sectional viewpoints common to all sectors,” will
promote a barrier-free society in terms of both software and hardware, and improve
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accessibility to make participation by persons with disabilities in society substantive
and to ensure that persons with or without disabilities can live a life without worry
while demonstrating their capabilities to the utmost.
29. Article 22 of the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities and the Basic Program for
Persons with Disabilities (Second) (III7. (2)) provides that national and local
governments must take necessary measures to promote barrier-free access to
information; and “JIS X8341-4 Guidelines for Older Persons and Persons with
Disabilities—–Information

andCommunications

Equipment,

SoftwareandServices—–Part 4: Telecommunications Equipment” was established in 2005.
With respect to paragraph 3 of Article 4,
30.The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that the Commission on Policy
for Persons with Disabilities (hereinafter the “Policy Commission”), an advisory bodycomposed of a maximum of 30 members to be nominated from among persons withdisabilities and persons engaged in business related to the independence and social
participation of persons with disabilities as well as persons with relevant knowledge
and experience, should be established in the Cabinet Office (Articles 32 and 33 of the
Basic Act). At present, the total number of members of the Policy Commission is 28,
and the majority of members are persons with physical disabilities (visual disabilities,
hearing disabilities, physical disabilities and deafblindness), intellectual disabilities,
mental disabilities (including developmental disabilities) or intractable/rare diseases,or organizations of such persons and their families.
31.The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that the Prime Minister musthear the opinion of the Policy Commission concerning the establishment or change of
the “Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities,” and that the Policy Commission
may study and deliberate on the Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities, monitor
the status of implementation of the Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities and,
where deemed necessary, offer an opinion to the Prime Minister (paragraphs 4 and 9of Article 11, and Article 32, of the Basic Act).
32.The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that the national and local
governments must hear the opinions of persons with disabilities and other relevant
persons, and endeavor to respect such opinions when taking measures to support theindependence and social participation of persons with disabilities (paragraph 2,
Article 10 of the Basic Act).
33. With respect to intervention in the local decision-making processes, the Basic Act for
Persons with Disabilities provides that prefectural and municipal governments must
establish a body with a council system to study and deliberate the comprehensive and9ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION

systematic promotion of measures they enact for persons with disabilities, andmonitor the state of implementation of the measures (in the case of municipal
governments, they “may establish” a body with a council system). As of the end of
March 2014, all prefectural governments had established a body with a council
system, while 841 municipal governments (48.3% of the total) had established a bodywith a council system (Article 36 of the Basic Act).
34.The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that prefectural and municipal
governments must hear the opinion of the body with a council system when
formulating or revising the Prefectural or Municipal Government Program for
Persons with Disabilities, and that the body with a council system may study anddeliberate this Program, and monitor the status of implementation of the Program (ifthe municipal government doesn’t establish a body with a council system, it musthear the opinions of persons with disabilities and other relevant persons) (paragraphs
5, 6 and 9 of Article 11 of the Basic Act).
35.Article 87 of the Act on Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities
provides that the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare must establish a system forproviding welfare services for persons with disabilities, etc. and the basic guidelines
for ensuring the smooth implementation of assistance under the law, and that the
Minister must take necessary measures to reflect the opinions of persons withdisabilities, etc., their families, and other related persons before establishing orchanging the basic guidelines. Articles 88 and 89 of the Act on Comprehensive
Support for Persons with Disabilities provide that municipal and prefectural
governments must, based on the basic guidelines, establish a welfare plan for persons
with disabilities ensuring smooth implementation of services under the law, including
securing a system for providing welfare services for persons with disabilities, and thatmunicipal and prefectural governments must make an effort to listen to the opinions
of a council consisting of persons with disabilities, etc., their families and otherrelated persons, etc. engaged in work related to welfare, medical care, education or
employment before establishing or changing the welfare plan.
Article 5

Equality and non-discrimination

36.The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides the basic principle that prohibits
discrimination or any other act which violates the interests or rights of a person witha disability on the basis of the disability, and provides that when a person with adisability currently requires the removal of a social barrier and if the burden
associated with said implementation is not excessive, reasonable accommodation
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must be given to implementing the removal of the social barrier (paragraphs 1 and 2,
Article 4 of the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities).
37. With respect to “prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability,” the Persons
withDisabilities

Discrimination

Elimination

Act

prohibits

administrative

organizations, etc. and the private businesses sector from violating the rights andinterests of persons with disabilities through unfair discriminatory treatment
because of disability, and provides that when a person with a disability requires theremoval of a social barrier and if the burden associated with said implementation is
not excessive, reasonable accommodation must be given toward this end so as not toviolate his/her rights and interests (the private businesses sector shall endeavor toprovide reasonable accommodation) (Articles 7 and 8 of the Persons with Disabilities
Discrimination Elimination Act).
38. The Persons with Disabilities Discrimination Elimination Act has specified thefollowing measures, etc. to be taken to help eliminate discrimination based on
disability by administrative organizations, etc. and the private businesses sector:(1) Measures to prohibit administrative organizations, etc. from practicing unfair
discriminatory treatment, and obligate them to provide necessary andreasonable accommodation for the removal of a social barrier if the burden for
doing so is not excessive and to prepare Handling Directions to enable officials
to properly respond (local public entities are obligated to make an effort);(2) Measures to prohibit the private businesses sector from practicing unfair
discriminatory treatment and obligate them to make an effort to provide
necessary and reasonable accommodation to the removal of a social barrier if
the burden for doing so is not excessive, and measures in which the competent
Minister prepares the Handling Guidelines, seek reports, or gives advice,guidance or recommendations in order to facilitate the voluntary efforts of theprivate businesses sector; and(3) Support measures to help eliminate discrimination against persons withdisabilities, such as the development systems for consultations and theprevention of disputes, awareness campaigns, and the establishment ofRegional Support Councils for Eliminating Discrimination against Persons
with Disabilities.
Article 6

Women with disabilities

39. The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that the measures to support
the independence and social participation of persons with disabilities must be
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systematically formulated and implemented through a coordinated framework ofcooperation in accordance with the gender, etc. of the person with the disability(paragraph 1, Article 10 of the Basic Act). The Basic Program for Persons with
Disabilities (Third), the basic policy based on the Persons with Disabilities
Discrimination Elimination Act and the Fourth Basic Plan for Gender Equality
specify the necessity to consider that women with disabilities may be placed in more
complex and difficult situations due to their disability and gender.
When exchanging opinions about the state of implementation of the Basic Programfor Persons with Disabilities (Third), the Policy Commission heard the opinions offemale members with disabilities and conducted discussions.
40. Based on the Anti-Prostitution Act, etc., Women's Consulting Offices established in
prefectures provide consulting services to women, including women with disabilities,
who suffer violence from their spouse, etc. or from stalking, and take such women into
temporary protection. Women’s Protection Facilities provide necessary protection
services to women, etc. who require medium- and long-term support. With regard totheir status of the implementation of Women’s Protection Project, prefectural
governments report that 40% of women admitted to the Women’s Protection Facilities
have physical, intellectual, and mental disabilities or some kinds of diseases.
41. With respect to this article, the Policy Commission has provided the following

observation (See the Appendix for details).
To comply with the provisions concerning “women with disabilities” as specified in
Article 6 of the Convention, it is necessary to promote the establishment of measures
focused on women, such as the enhancement of descriptions and statistics from theviewpoint of women with disabilities and the standard introduction of nursing careby persons of the same gender at welfare facilities, for example. For the membershipof various councils and experts’ panels at which policies of the national and local
governments are determined, positive actions* are promoted. Positive actions, etc.
should also be promoted for the Commission on Policy for Persons with Disabilities.
* This term means that the opportunity to voluntarily participate in activities in all
fields of society as an equal constituent member of society is positively provided toeither of the gender groups to the extent necessary to narrow the gender gap.
Article 7Children with disabilities

42. The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that measures to support theindependence and social participation of persons with disabilities must be
systematically formulated and implemented through a coordinated framework of
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cooperation in accordance with the age, etc. of the person with the disability(paragraph 1, Article 10 of the Basic Act). The Basic Program for Persons with
Disabilities (Third) and the basic policy based on the Persons with Disabilities
Discrimination Elimination Act specify acknowledging that support that must be
provided for children with disabilities is different from that for adults withdisabilities.
43. The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that to enable persons withdisabilities to receive a full education based on their age and capabilities and inaccordance with their particular characteristics, national and local governments must
provide sufficient information to children and students with disabilities and theirparents or guardians, and respect their wishes to the greatest extent possible.
44. Articles 1 through 3 of the Child Welfare Act provide that all children shall beequally afforded a guaranteed quality of life and be kindly treated, and national andlocal governments shall be responsible for bringing up children in good mental andphysical health. It is also provided that these provisions shall consistently berespected in the enforcement of all laws and regulations pertaining to children. When
enforcing the Child Welfare Act, prefectural governments, based on the provisions of
the law, conduct necessary surveys of children and their homes to make a judgment
based on the viewpoints of medicine, psychology, education, sociology and mental
health, and provide necessary guidance to them based on these judgments. Suchservices of prefectural governments are conducted by child guidance centers.
45.The Guidelines for Nursery Care at Nursery Centers provide that if children havedisabilities or developmental problems, nursery centers must provide individual
support to parents or guardians in collaboration or in cooperation with municipal
governments and related organizations.
(See Article 28 “Adequate standard of living and social protection” for payment of thespecial child rearing allowance, etc.).
Article 8

Awareness-raising

46.The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides the basic principles of the rightsof persons with disabilities, and obligates national and local governments toimplement the necessary measures to increase public understanding of these basic
principles (Article 3 and 7 of the Basic Act). To help the general public increase theirinterest in and understanding of persons with disabilities, and the challenges they
face, as well as to encourage persons with disabilities to engage more in social
activities, one week from December 3 to 9 of every year has since 1995 been
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designated as the “Week of Persons with Disabilities” (the provision was establishedwhen the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities was revised in 2004; Article 9 of the
Basic Act). Public and private sectors have been actively implementing a variety ofevents across the country as a part of awareness campaigns and publicity activities
during, before and after the week.
47.Since FY 1989, the Cabinet Office, in collaboration with prefectural governments andgovernment-designated cities, has conducted a “Project for Promoting Understandingof Persons with Disabilities to Expand Your Mind’s Connections” as part of theawareness campaigns and publicity activities for young people, in which elementaryand junior-high school students, etc. in the country are encouraged to submit “Essays
on Experiences with Expanding Your Mind’s Connections” that describe experiences
regarding communication with persons with disabilities (and “Poster for the Week of
Persons with Disabilities” since FY1993), with awards being given for excellent
works.
48.From the viewpoint of effectively and comprehensively promoting barrier-free
universal designs for both hardware and software so that all people, including theelderly, persons with disabilities, pregnant women and those with children, may leada safe and comfortable social life, the Cabinet Office has each year awarded
individuals and organizations that have received the Award for the Promotion ofBarrier-free and Universal Design from the Prime Minister and the Minister incharge of measures against the

aging of society or for persons with disabilities, inorder to further promote such noteworthy activities.
49. The Persons with Disabilities Discrimination Elimination Act provides that national
and local governments must implement necessary awareness campaigns in order tohelp the general public increase their interest in and understanding of theelimination of discrimination against persons with disabilities, and to remove various
factors which prevent the elimination of such discrimination (Article 15 of the Act).
50. To help improve the capabilities of youths as core players of social activities in Japanand develop their networks, the Cabinet Office has been implementing the “Young
Core Leaders of Civil Society Groups Development Program” consisting of Sending
Program for Japanese Participants and Invitation Program for Foreign Participants
for those engaged in social activities, including activities for persons with disabilities.
51. The Cabinet Office has been sponsoring the National Abilympics Competition sothat persons with disabilities may compete with each other using their “cultivated”
skills to improve their vocational skills and so that companies and the general public
may deepen their understanding and recognition of persons with disabilities and also
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to promote employment of persons with disabilities.
52. Paragraph 2, Article 16 of the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides thatthe national and local governments must promote mutual understanding between
children and students with and without disabilities by proactively facilitating theirinteraction and joint studies. The Course of Study, etc. states that the opportunity tocommunicate with persons with disabilities, etc. and the opportunity for children withor without disabilities to interact with each other and conduct joint studies must be
provided.
53.The “Basic Plan for Promotion of Human Rights Education and Encouragement”
established based on Article 7 of the “Act for Promotion of Human Rights Educationand Encouragement” (hereinafter the “Human Rights Education and Enlightenment
Promotion Act”) specifies that as one of the human rights issues,

activities to raiseawareness and expand the concept of respect for human rights must be enriched andenhanced in an effort to realize a society in which persons with disabilities canbecome self-reliant and fully participate in activities in the community by eliminatingprejudice or discrimination against them and establishing the concept of
normalization. Based on the Basic Plan for Promotion of Human Rights Educationand Encouragement, the human rights bodies of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) (SeeArticle 33 “National implementation and monitoring”) implement necessary
measures, while holding lectures and round-table talk, distributing leaflets, andconducting awareness campaigns at various events under the slogan of “Promote theIndependence and Participation in Society of People with Disabilities” as one of thepriority targets of activities for human rights awareness campaigns.
54. The MOJ holds “human rights workshops for national government officials” with theaim of helping national government officials to deepen their understanding andrecognition of human rights. In February 2014, the MOJ held the workshop under thetheme of “human rights of persons with disabilities.” The MOJ also holds “humanrights workshop for local government officials” with the aim of helping local
government officials of prefectural and municipal governments to acquire theknowledge required of leaders. The MOJ holds the lecture under the theme of “humanrights of persons with disabilities” at the workshop.
Article 9

Accessibility

55. The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities obligates national and local governments
to implement the systematic promotion of measures such as preparing the structuresand equipment of facilities of public facilities so that persons with disabilities are able
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to smoothly use them. The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities imposes a similar
obligation on the private businesses sector establishing public facilities (paragraphs 1
and 2, Article 21 of the Basic Act). With respect to information, communication andother services, the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that national andlocal governments must take measures to improve access to information and toensure that necessary information is quickly and accurately relayed to persons withdisabilities in order to ensure safety in the event of a disaster or other emergency(paragraphs 1 and 2, Article 22 of the Basic Act). The Basic Act for Persons with
Disabilities provides that business operators must endeavor to ensure convenience ofuse for persons with disabilities (paragraph 3, Article 22 of the Basic Act).
56. The Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities provides measures according tofield. For example, the basic policy of the measures for the living environment is topromote a barrier-free living environment (improved access to houses, buildings, thepublic transport system, walking spaces, etc.) and further promote a consistentbarrier-free environment during travel from homes to towns using the transportsystem. The Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities provides that measures
must be taken to improve access to houses, buildings, the public transport system,
and walking spaces, etc.
57.The Act on Promotion of Smooth Transportation, etc. of Elderly Persons, Disabled
Persons, etc. (hereinafter the “Barrier-Free Law”) established in the light of theuniversal design concept of providing “freedom and convenience for anyone
anywhere” establishes the obligation to conform to the Accessibility Standards when
passenger facilities and vehicles, etc., roads, off-street parking facilities, urban parks,
buildings, etc. are newly constructed, and imposes the obligation on existing facilities,
etc. to endeavor to conform to the Standards. The “Basic Policy on Accessibility”
specifies improvement targets for promoting access improvement by the end of
FY2020. For example, passenger facilities handling 3,000 or more arriving anddeparting passengers a day must achieve the target of 100% barrier-free access, andimprovements are steadily being made. As for vehicles, including buses with lifts andwelfare taxis, the introduction of such vehicles needs to be further promoted toachieve the improvement targets. Reference and actual values for the Accessibility
Standards are publicized every year.
58.In 2-1-2 of the basic policy based on the Barrier-Free Law provides that it isdesirable to actively implement access improvement measures for specified buildings
for which access improvement is not obligated, in order to help improve access to suchbuildings while taking design or cost adaptability into consideration. According to
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4-1-(1), of the policy, the status of progress of “Accessibility” is initially taken into
consideration, further examinations are conducted, and then efforts are made to takenecessary measures based on the results of such examinations in order to accelerateaccessibility measures (sustained development in stages).
59. Article 4 of the Barrier-Free Law provides that the national government must makean effort to deepen the general Public’s understanding of the promotion of“Accessibility” through educational activities, etc. In particular, simulated experienceclasses in which participants can experience barriers typical of older persons or
persons with disabilities are held across the country. Paragraph 5, Article 8 of theBarrier-Free Law provides that public transport business operators, etc. must provide
their staff with education and training necessary for promoting “Accessibility”
Therefore, public transport business operators conduct education, training, etc.
attended by persons with disabilities.
60.With respect to the implementation or promotion of Research and Development(hereinafter R&D) for facilities, paragraph 1, Article 52 of the Barrier-Free Law
provides that the national government must make an effort to secure funds necessary
for promoting “Accessibility” and take other measures, while paragraph 2, Article 52of the Barrier-Free Law provides that the national government must make an effort
to provide information, promote R&D and disseminate the results of the R&D withregard to “Accessibility” Based on these provisions, the national government, forexample, conducts R&D, etc. on methods to lay tactile walking surface indicators forvisually impaired people, discloses the results of such R&D to public transportbusiness operators, etc., and reflects such results in the revision of the Guidelines on
Development of Accessibility in Public Transport (part on passenger facilities), andothers.
61. The Accessibility Standards applicable to the public transportation system andbuildings provide that main facilities, etc. must be indicated to persons with visualdisabilities by means of braille, and the standards applicable to the public
transportation system provide that the system must be equipped with facilities thatmake it possible to achieve mutual understanding through use of written information.
Related organizations for older persons and persons with disabilities, etc.,
organizations of owners or administrators of facilities etc., academic experts,
administrative organizations, etc. hold meetings of the nationwide barrier-free
network in order to understand the current state of efforts made under the
Barrier-Free Law, identify challenges, examine countermeasures and submit
proposals, etc.
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62.Under the Barrier-Free Law, law enforcement authorities increasingly introduce
barrier-free signals such as traffic sound signals, traffic signals for pedestrians thatindicate how much time remains until the light changes color, separate andindependent traffic lights for vehicles and pedestrians, easily viewable andunderstandable road signs, such as those that are strongly illuminated, and escortzones at pedestrian crossings, which all improve the safety and convenience of
persons with visual disabilities to enable them to safely cross streets.
63. With respect to barrier-free access to information, paragraph 1, Article 22 of the
Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that national and local governments
must take measures to improve access to information. As a part of such measures, theBasic Program for Persons with Disabilities (III 6. (4)) specifies that publicorganizations, including local governments, must promote efforts to improve web
accessibility, etc. Therefore, “Everyone’s Public Site Operation Model” (established in2005 and revised in 2011), which is a manual facilitating support for the maintenanceand improvement of web accessibility for national and local governments, has been
publicized.
64. With respect to the dissemination of closed-captioned broadcasting, etc., the Basic
Program for Persons with Disabilities (III 6. (2)) specifies that the easy use ofbroadcasting services by persons with disabilities must be facilitated through thedissemination of closed-captioned broadcasts (including commercial messages), audio
description broadcasts, and sign language broadcasts, etc., by subsidizing the
production costs of broadcasters and implementing and enhancing efforts, etc. madebased on the “Administrative Guideline to Promote Broadcasting for the
Visually/Hearing Impaired.” In particular, under the Act Concerning Promotion of
Project for Facilitation of Use of Telecommunications by People with Disabilities
Contributing to Improved Convenience of People with Disabilities (Act No.54 of 1993)(hereinafter the “Barrier-Free Telecommunications for Persons with Physical
Disabilities Act”) (paragraph 4 of Article 2, and Articles 3 through 5, of the Act),
subsidizing a part of the production costs, etc. of closed-captioned, audio description
and sign language broadcasts

is provided. Paragraph 2, Article 4 of the Broadcast

Act imposes on broadcasters an obligation to make efforts to establish as manyclosed-captioned broadcasts and audio description broadcasts as possible. The“Administrative Guideline to Promote Broadcasting for the Visually/Hearing
Impaired” was established and publicized as the guideline of the target goals for the
expansion of closed-captioned, audio description and sign language broadcasts until
FY2017, and the state of progress for such target goals has been surveyed and18

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publicized every year.
65. With respect to the provision or R&D of communication and broadcast services,paragraph 1, Article 22 of the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides thatnational and local governments must take measures to promote barrier-free access to
information. Furthermore, the Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities (III 6. (4))
specifies that the planning, development and provision of information andcommunication equipment, services, etc. in consideration of persons with disabilities
must be promoted to secure, improve and expand their access to information whenusing such equipment and services. Therefore, a subsidy is provided to organizations
or persons engaged in the R&D of communication and broadcasting technology to
improve the convenience of persons with disabilities pertaining to such technology.
Based on the Barrier-Free Telecommunications for Persons with Physical Disabilities
Act (paragraph 4 of Article 2, and Articles 3 through 5, of the Act), a subsidy isprovided to persons engaged in the provision or development of communication andbroadcasting services for persons with physical disabilities.
66. Prefectural law enforcement authorities have established an “emergency call by fax”
and “emergency call by email” system to enable persons with hearing or speechdisabilities to send an emergency message to police stations if they become a crime
victim or observe a crime.
(See Article 21, “Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information” forcommunication support)(See the last paragraph for Article 21 “Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to
information.” for findings made by the Policy Commission concerning this article.)
Article 10

Right to life

67. Article 13 of the Constitution of Japan provides that the people’s right to life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness shall, to the extent that it does not interfere with the
public welfare, be the supreme consideration in legislation and in other governmental
affairs. The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides the basic principle that
persons with disabilities possess the right to be guaranteed a life befitting of suchdignity (Article 3 of the Basic Act), and obligates national and local governments toimplement in a comprehensive and systematic manner measures to support theindependence and social participation of persons with disabilities (Article 6 of the
Basic Act).
Article 11

Situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies
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68. In the Great East Japan Earthquake, elderly people over 65 years old made up the
majority of the death toll, and the fatality rate of persons with disabilities was almost
twice as high as the rate for the overall affected residents. Many support personnel,
including firefighters and social workers, were among the victims of the earthquake.
Based on this lesson, the Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act was revised in June2013 to obligate the heads of municipal governments to prepare a list of persons who
cannot seek refuge by themselves and require special assistance to ensure theirordered and rapid evacuation during a disaster or when there is a risk of disaster(these persons are hereinafter referred to as “residents who need assistance toevacuate during a disaster”) from among the elderly, persons with disabilities, infants,
etc. who live in municipalities and require special consideration (hereinafter“residents who require special consideration for disaster prevention”) (subparagraph
15, paragraph 2, Article 8 of the Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act) so thatmeasures necessary for protecting the life and limb of residents who need assistanceto evacuate during a disaster, such as effective evacuation support, confirmation ofsafety, etc., may be taken. Furthermore, a system was established in which
information is provided to evacuation supporters under normal circumstances as wellas during a disaster. The revision of the Act resulted in a thorough amendment of the“Guidelines for Evacuation Support of People Requiring Assistance during a Disaster”(March 2006), and the “guidelines for the evacuation support of residents who needassistance to evacuate during a disaster,” which compiled a list of points to note andreference matters, etc. when preparing and using the aforementioned list of residents
requiring assistance, were established and publicized in August 2013. Furthermore,in response to the revision of the Act, which set a best endeavor clause for improving
the living environment in shelters, the “Guidelines for ensuring a good living
environment in shelters”, was established and released in August 2013. The
guidelines include special considerations that need to be made for assisting those whoneed special consideration in a disaster when operating a shelter (or a welfare
evacuation shelter),
69. In March 2015, the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction washeld in Sendai City. To make the conference accessible to persons with disabilities, theJapanese Government, together with the Sendai City Government, the Nippon
Foundation and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR),
enacted various measures, including the introduction of barrier-free facilities,
Japanesesignlanguageinterpretation

andinternationalsignlanguageinterpretation at each session, and displays of Japanese and English captions on the
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screen so that persons with disabilities could easily participate in the conference, etc.
Persons with disabilities acting as main disaster prevention supporters madestatements at the plenary session and participated in discussions at working sessions
and in related events. The “Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
2015–2030,” new international guidelines for disaster risk reduction which were
established and adopted at the Conference, have specified the importance of roles
played by persons with disabilities.
70. The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that national and local
governments must take measures so that necessary information is quickly andaccurately relayed to persons with disabilities in order to ensure safety in case ofdisasters or other emergencies (paragraph 2, Article 22 of the Basic Act). The sameact provides that national and local governments must take necessary measuresrelating to disaster prevention and crime prevention in accordance with the gender,
age, state of disability, and lifestyle of persons with disabilities (Article 26 of the BasicAct).
71. The Law for the Peace and Independence of Japan and Maintenance of the Nationand the People’s Security in Armed Attack Situations, etc. provides that basic humanrights must be respected when responding to an armed attack scenario. Article 9 of
the Law concerning the Measures for Protection of the People in Armed Attack
Situations etc. provides that attention must also be paid to the protection of persons
with disabilities when taking measures to ensure protection of the general public.
72.Paragraph 1 of Article 44, etc. of the “standards concerning the personnel, equipment
and operation of designated support facilities for persons with disabilities under the
Act on Comprehensive Support for Daily and Social Lives of Persons with Disabilities”(hereinafter the “MHLW Ordinance for Facility Standards”) provides that facilities,
etc. conducting support for persons in residential care, etc. must be supplied withequipment (fire-fighting devices, etc.) in the event of an extraordinary disaster; and aconcrete plan for such a scenario must be established, along with a system in which areport is submitted to related authorities; this plan and system must be fully
explained to employees on a regular basis. Designated support facilities for persons
with disabilities, etc., welfare service offices for persons with disabilities under the
Act on Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities, and designated facilities
for children with disabilities under the Child Welfare Act have established similar
provisions.
Article 12

Equal recognition before the law
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73. Article 13 of the Constitution of Japan provides that all of the people shall be
respected as individuals. The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides thebasic principle that all persons with disabilities should be entitled to dignity as
individuals (Article 3 of the Basic Act).
74. The Civil Code of Japan provides that the enjoyment of private rights shallcommence at birth (Article 3 of the Civil Code). The Civil Code states that all persons
have the capacity to enjoy rights. Even for persons with disabilities, the capacity tohold rights is secured.
75. The adult guardianship system is established to protect and support persons withpoor judgment capacity due to dementia, intellectual disability, mental disability, etc.
One of the three types (guardianship, curatorship, and assistance) can be used
depending on the judgment level capacity of persons with disabilities.
76. The Civil Code provides that in the appointment of a guardian of an adult and asupervisor of adult guardianship, the family court shall consider the opinion of theadult ward, along with all other circumstances, and shall listen to statements fromthe adult ward (paragraph 4 of Article 843 and Article 852 of the Code, and Article
120 of the Domestic Relations Cases Procedure Act). The appointed adult guardianmust respect the intentions of the adult ward, and consider his/her mental andphysical condition and living circumstances (Article 858 of the Code). This provision
guarantees that the rights, will and preference of the adult ward are respected. These
provisions apply mutatis mutandis to curatorship and assistance, or similar
provisions apply to curatorship and assistance (paragraph 2 of Article 876-2,
paragraph 1 of Article 876-5, paragraph 2 of Article 876-8 and paragraph 1 of Article
876-10 of the Code, and Articles 130 and 139 of the Domestic Relations Cases
Procedure Act). In the case of assistance, the family court may rule on thecommencement of assistance at the request of any person other than the person
concerned, only if consent of the person concerned is obtained (paragraph 2, Article 15of the Code).
77.The scope of the right to rescind and the authority of representation of the adultguardian is clearly specified in the Civil Code, and the adult guardian must respect
the will of the person concerned when exercising his/her such right and authority(Articles 7 through 9, and Article 858 of the Code). As for a curator, the scope of
his/her right to rescind on his/her authority of representation is specified in the Civil
Code. Based on the ruling, the family court may grant the curator the authority ofrepresentation or expand the right to consent and the right to rescind for a specificjuristic act, depending on the level of capacity for judgment of the person concerned or
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the necessity. However, the family court may rule on the granting of the authority ofrepresentation at the request of any person other than the person concerned, only if
the consent of the person concerned is obtained (Articles 13 and 876-4 of the Code).
Although the family court may specify the scope of the right to consent, the right torescind and the authority of representation of an assistant for each case depending on
the level of capacity for judgment of the person concerned or the necessity, the family
court may rule on the granting of the right to consent, etc. at the request of any
person other than the person concerned, only if the consent of the person concerned is
obtained (Articles 17 and 876-9 of the Code).
78. The family court may supervise the affairs of the guardian, the curator or theassistant, and at any time order them to submit a report on their affairs (Article 863,
paragraph 2 of Article 876-5 and paragraph 1 of Article 876-10 of the Code). These
measures ensure examination by judicial authorities. If the person concerned
recovers his/her judgment capacity, the family court may revoke the ruling forcommencement of guardianship, curatorship or assistance (Article 10, paragraph 1 of
Article 14 and paragraph 1 of Article 18 of the Code). This provision enables thefamily court to take measures suited to the conditions of persons with disabilities.
79. The number of users of the adult guardianship system (guardianship, curatorshipand assistance) gradually increased from 164,421 cases at the end of FY2012, to
174,565 cases at the end of FY2013, and to 182,551 cases at the end of FY2014. The
numbers of users of the adult guardianship system by type of guardianship at the endof FY2014 are as follows: guardianship 149,021 cases (approx. 81.6%); curatorship
25,189 cases (approx. 13.8%); and assistance 8,341 cases (approx. 4.6%). The
relationships between adult guardians, etc. (adult guardians, curators and assistants)
as of 2011 were as follows: relatives approx. 55.6%; and third parties other thanrelatives approx. 44.4%. Those as of 2014 were as follows: relatives approx. 35.0%;
and third parties other than relatives approx. 65.0%. These results show that theratio of third parties sharply increased.
80. With respect to the adult guardianship system, it is noted that if a person withdisabilities is physically abused or the disability pension of the person withdisabilities is stolen by his/her relative, for example, the attorney, etc. nominated as
adult guardian may respect the will of the person concerned when securing a safe
place for him/her, manage his/her assets and thereby protect his/her health andassets in a proper manner.
81. As consultation support under the Act on Comprehensive Support for Persons with
Disabilities, “basic consultation support, etc.” is provided, in which necessary
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information, advice, etc. are given in response to inquiries from persons withdisabilities, etc., parents or guardians of children with disabilities or caregivers of
persons with disabilities with regard to various problems related to the welfare of
persons with disabilities, etc. in communities. If it is found to be helpful for persons
with disabilities to utilize the adult guardianship system in order to receive welfare
services but that such persons are unable to do so unless expenses for the system are
subsidized, such expenses shall be subsidized by the municipality’s community living
support services under Article 77 of the Act on Comprehensive Support for Persons
with Disabilities. In FY2014, 1,360 municipalities implemented community living
support services.
82.Article 51-11-2 of the Act on Mental Health and Welfare for the Mentally Disabled(hereinafter the “Mental Health and Welfare Act”) provides that if deemed especiallynecessary for providing welfare services for persons with mental disabilities, theheads of municipal governments may request a family court to rule on the matter(ruling for the commencement of guardianship specified in Article 7 of the Civil Code,ruling for the commencement of curatorship specified in Article 11 of the Code, etc.).
83. With respect to this article, the Policy Commission has provided the following

observation.
The establishment of a social framework to assist decision making and the exercise
of legal capacity is urgently needed. The fully substitute guardianship category in
the adult guardianship system should be used as a last resort for protecting therights and interests of persons with disabilities in cases where it is difficult for themto exercise their legal capacity even after the best assistance has been provided. The
operation of the adult guardianship system must be improved so that the will ofpeople with disabilities will be respected as much as possible in view of the purposeof laws, even in the case where guardian make a decision on their behalf.
A consensus was reached that a challenge exists concerning the burden of thefamily court to perform supervision of guardianship. (See the Appendix for details)
Article 13

Access to justice84.In the case where a person with disabilities becomes a suspect in a criminal case or issubjected to the procedure for a juvenile protection case or similar, or in the casewhere a person with disabilities is subjected to or becomes a related person in a court
procedure for a civil case, family case or administrative case, the Basic Act for Persons
with Disabilities obligates national and local governments to give consideration tosecuring a suitable communication means so that he/she may exercise his/her rights
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without difficulty, and take necessary measures, including training for public officers(Article 29 of the Basic Act).
85. The courts have been improving access to their facilities, including the eliminationof uneven steps and the establishment of multi-functional lavatories and elevators sothat persons with disabilities can use the facilities inside the courts without difficulty.
It is understood that the courts will continue to improve access to their facilities in
the future.
86. It is understood that to enable persons with disabilities, be they witnesses orotherwise, to properly communicate with others and exercise their rights without
difficulty in various judicial proceedings, etc. in court, judges, at their own discretion,
will consider arranging for a sign language interpreter, summary script, etc., or lendhearing aids and translate documents prepared and distributed by the courts into
braille, depending on the specifics and the degree of disability. Also, when judges
explain to or question persons with disabilities, etc. about procedures, they consider
the contents of and way of posing the explanations and questions.
87. It is further understood that judges, at their own discretion, consider the contents ofand way of posing the questions when they question children with disabilities,
depending on their developmental phase.
88. In the case where a party with disabilities is unable to perform a judicial act tohis/her satisfaction due to hearing and speech impairment, low intelligence, etc.,
he/she, with permission of the court, may appear before a court with an assistant(Article 60 of the Code of Civil Procedure, and Article 25 of the Non-Contentious Case
Procedures Act).
89.It is understood that the Legal Training and Research Institute responsible fortraining judges, and the Training and Research Institute for Court Officials
responsible for training officials other than judges, provide training to deepen theunderstanding of the necessity of giving due consideration, etc. to persons withdisabilities by inviting lecturers, including officials of government organizations whoare engaged in human rights protection and experts on persons with disabilities, witheach court providing similar training.
90. The law provides that in the case of a civil trial or non-contentious case proceedings,
if a person involved in an oral argument as a party or a witness, etc. has a hearing or
speech disability, an interpreter shall attend the oral argument, or it shall bepermissible to ask questions of him/her or have him/her make statements by means ofwriting (paragraph 1 of Article 154 of the Code of Civil Procedure, and Article 48 of
the Non-Contentious Case Procedures Act).
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91. The Code of Criminal Procedure and the Rules of Criminal Procedure contain thefollowing provisions.
(1) The accused or the suspect may appoint counsel at any time, whether he/she isdisabled or not (Article 30 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). When the accused
is unable to appoint counsel because of indigency or other reasons, he/she may
request the court (judge) to appoint counsel, regardless of whether he/she has adisability (Article 36). The same applies to suspects of certain cases (Article37-2).
The court (judge) may appoint counsel ex-officio if there is no counsel for theaccused when: The accused has a hearing or speech disability (item 3 of Article37); There is the possibility that the accused is insane or has diminishedcapacity (item 4 of Article 37); It is deemed necessary for other reasons (items 5of Article 37); The suspect of a certain case is suspected to have difficulty in
judging whether or not counsel is required due to a mental disability or any
other grounds (Article 37-4).
(2) In the case where a person with a hearing or speech disability is required tomake a statement based on judicial procedures, the court may assign him/her aninterpreter (Article 176 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).
(3) If a witness in an examination has a hearing disability, the court may question
him/her in writing, or if a witness has a speech disability, the court may ask
him/her to answer in writing (Article 125 of the Rules of Criminal Procedure).
92.When conducting an interview of a suspect or an unsworn witness with a disability,
the investigating organization understands the importance of operating in an
appropriate manner in view of the characteristics of the person being interviewed,
and

gives

easy-to-understandquestionsinconsideration

of

the

person’scommunication ability, utilizes a sign language interpreter or puts messages inwriting for persons with hearing disabilities, and if necessary, a public prosecutor
would visit the home, hospital, etc. and would conduct an interview of thesuspect/witness in the presence of his/her parent or guardian, doctor, etc.
93. In accordance with the Rule of Criminal Investigation, when conducting aninterrogation on a person with mental or physical disabilities, a police officer mustfully understand the characteristics of the said person, provide consideration for thetime and place, etc. of the interrogation, and use appropriate methods inconsideration of the degree of his/her disabilities such as arranging a sign language
interpreter (the Rule of Criminal Investigation).
94. The Rules of the National Public Safety Commission establish the “Fundamentals of26

ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSIONWork Ethics,” which attach importance to the respect of human rights and requirethat education to ensure that police officials comply with work ethics be provided.
Under the Rules, police academies and police stations, etc. provide police officials
with education to help them deepen understanding of the ways of communication, etc.
in consideration of the characteristics of disabilities and of persons with disabilities,
and help them implement law enforcement operations in view of human rights,
including the rights of persons with disabilities, through lectures on jurisprudence
such as the constitution of Japan, the Code of Criminal Procedure and work ethics;
practical training by visiting facilities for persons with disabilities; and lectures, etc.
by knowledgeable persons (the Rules Concerning Work Ethics and Service of Police
Personnel).
95. Training on judiciary proceedings, etc. for leaders of detention operations isconducted to improve their quality. Police academies, police stations, etc. provide
professional education, etc. to police officials engaged in detention operations throughvarious opportunities, including training workshops, so as to ensure that they acquire
such knowledge, skills, etc., including in regard to judiciary proceedings, which isneeded to properly conduct law enforcement operations in consideration of the humanrights of the detainees, including persons with disabilities (the Act on Penal
Detention Facilities and Treatment of Inmates and Detainees (hereinafter the “Penal
Detention Facilities Act”)).
96. Based on the “architectural design standards for smooth transportation, etc. ofelderly persons, disabled persons, etc.,” the Public Prosecutors Office has been
making an effort to install ramps, automatic doors, elevators, etc. inside its building.
97. Lectures to facilitate the understanding and consideration of persons withdisabilities are provided to public prosecutors and officials in correspondence to theyears of experience. Along with these lectures, individual prosecutors are given
guidance by their superiors as they perform their daily duties through the course ofinvestigations and court proceedings.
98. As civil legal aid services, the Japan Legal Support Center provides legal
consultation to persons with disabilities, etc. at their places of residence or otherconvenient locations. In addition, full-time attorneys from the Center proactively
provide legal services to socially vulnerable people, including the elderly and persons
with disabilities, in cooperation with local governments, welfare organizations, etc.
99. The Japan Legal Support Center ensures that its relevant officials participate insimulated experience training, through which they can experience barriers that are
typically faced by persons with disabilities, etc., so that they can learn how to pay
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consideration to, or help persons with disabilities. In addition, the Center has
established a “manual for helping elderly persons and disabled persons,” that all
officials are requested to comply with.
Article 14

Liberty and security of person

100.The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that the national and local
governments must provide accommodation to secure a means of communication inaccordance with the characteristics of individual persons with disabilities, provide
training for relevant officers, and take other necessary measures so that persons withdisabilities are able to smoothly exercise their rights in cases where they become
subject to procedures related to a criminal case, or a protection case if the subject is ajuvenile, or equivalent procedures (Article 29 of the Basic Act).
101. The Penal Code provides that a person who commits homicide (Article 199 of theCode), injury (Article 204 of the Code), assault (Article 208 of the Code), unlawful
capture and confinement (Article 220 of the Code), etc. shall be punished. Therefore,
perpetrators who commit the above offenses, including against persons withdisabilities, may be punished. The Code of Criminal Procedure provides that withregard to investigations, compulsory disposition may not be applied unless special
provisions have been established in this Code (the provision of paragraph 1, Article
197 of the Code).
102.Irrespective of whether or not a suspect has a disability, criminal procedures suchas showing an arrest warrant, a search warrant, a seizure warrant or other warrant(paragraph1 of Article 201, and Article 110, of the Code of Criminal Procedure);
notifying the suspect at the time of the arrest of his/her right to appoint a defense
counsel (paragraph 1 of Article 203, and paragraph 1 of Article 204, of the Code); andnotifying the suspect prior to interview of his/her right to remain silent (paragraph 2,
Article 198 of the Code) must be taken. Therefore, in the case where the above
procedures are to be taken against persons with disabilities, proper attention is to be
paid to them in consideration of the characteristics of their disabilities: for example,
easy-to-understand explanations are given to persons with intellectual disabilities,
and sign language interpreters, etc. are used for persons with hearing disabilities,
depending on the specifics and the degree of the disabilities.
103.The Act on Penal Detention Facilities and Treatment of Inmates and Detainees, theJuvenile Training Schools Act, and the Juvenile Classification Homes Act prescribethat proper treatment of inmates must be made in consideration of theircircumstances while respecting their human rights. When treating inmates with28

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disabilities at correctional institutions, the following measures are taken dependingon the specifics and the degree, etc. of their disabilities as follows: (1) for inmates whoneed protective care, a system in which measures equivalent to those for diseased or
injured person is established; (2) corrective instruments such as eyeglasses are lent or
supplied to inmates (if they cannot use self-supplied articles); and (3) for sentenced
persons with disabilities, measures are taken to mitigate the specific conditions, etc.
of prison work.
104. It is provided that proper treatment must be given at detention facilities inconsideration of the circumstances while respecting the human rights of detainees. In
cases where detainees have disabilities, detention services managers must fully
understand the specifics of their disabilities and take medical-related measures,
including the provision of medical care by doctors, depending on their physicalcondition or the condition pertaining to their sickness. Depending on the specificcondition of their disability, detainees are allowed to use corrective instruments,
including glasses, and mobility aids, including wheelchairs, inside detention facilities.
Detention services managers ensure that all detainees undergo a health checkup
approximately twice each month, and receive considerations such as meals, including
rice porridge (the Penal Detention Facilities Act, and the Rules for Detention of
Detainees).
105. The Mental Health and Welfare Act provides an involuntary hospitalization systemfor persons with mental disabilities, including involuntary hospitalization (Article 29of the Act) and involuntary hospitalization for medical care and protection(paragraphs 1 and 2, Article 33 of the Act). The involuntary hospitalization system
under the Act cannot be applied based only on the fact that a person has a mental
disability, but can be applied if the person presents a danger to him/herself or others
due to said disability, or if there is no danger to him/herself or others but medical careand protection is required and the person cannot properly judge the necessity of
hospitalization. When applying the involuntary hospitalization system, a medical
examination by a psychiatrist designated by the national government (paragraph 2 ofArticle 29, and paragraph 1 of Article 33, of the Act) and written notification on
involuntary hospitalization to the person concerned (paragraph 3 of Article 29, andparagraph 3 of Article 33, of the Act) must be made in advance.
106.Treatment, including hospitalization, of persons with mental disabilities as
specified in the Act on Medical Care and Treatment for Persons Who Have Caused
Serious Cases under the Condition of Insanity (hereinafter the “Mentally
Incompetent Persons Medical Care and Treatment Act”) is conducted only in cases
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where: a person with a mental disability commits a serious criminal act such as
homicide or arson; the person is considered to have been insane or to have haddiminished capacity when the act was committed; and the person is exempted fromprosecution or is declared innocent and it is considered necessary for him/her toobtain medical care under the Act to help improve the mental disability which waspresent when the criminal act was committed and to facilitate his/her social
reintegration. The Act provides that before deciding on the treatment, the subject
must undergo a psychiatric evaluation, the judgment must be made in the presence ofan attorney or an expert on health and welfare, etc. The subject must be given an
opportunity to express his/her opinion, and the collegial body consisting of the judge
and the mental health evaluator (who is a doctor) must properly determine thenecessity of treatment and its contents (Article 2, and Articles 33 through 42, of the
Mentally Incompetent Persons Medical Care and Treatment Act).
107. With respect to this article, the Policy Commission has provided the following

observation (See the Appendix for details).
Concerning the systems and their operation under the Mental Health and Welfare
Act, etc., it is necessary to reexamine the appropriateness of Article 33 of the Mental
Health and Welfare Act, which is the provision concerning involuntary
hospitalization for medical care and protection. It is absolutely necessary to ensurethat rights advocates who are independent from families and health-care
professionals are involved in the treatment of psychiatric patients in order to protect
the rights of the patients. It is important to reduce the number of involuntary
hospitalizations including the cases caused by dementia, therefore, it is necessary to
conduct surveys on a continuous basis followed by discussions based on the latest
accurate statistics.
Article 15

Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or

punishment
108.The Act on Penal Detention Facilities and Treatment of Inmates and Detainees, theJuvenile Training Schools Act, and the Juvenile Classification Homes Act prescribethat proper treatment of inmates must be made in consideration of theircircumstances while respecting their human rights. When treating inmates withdisabilities at correctional institutions, proper treatment is given depending on thespecifics and the degree, etc. of their disabilities.
109. The Penal Code provides that a person who commits assault (Article 208 of theCode), injury (Article 204 of the Code), assault and cruelty by special public officers
30

ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION(Article 195 of the Code), etc. shall be punished. Therefore, perpetrators who commit
the above offenses, including against persons with disabilities, may be punished. If
there are facts in violation of punitive laws and regulations, the Public Prosecutor’s
Office properly handles them based on laws and evidence.
Article 16

Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse

110.Article 4 of the Act on Prevention of Maltreatment of Persons with Disabilities andSupport for Attendants of Persons with Disabilities (hereinafter the “Persons with
Disabilities Abuse Prevention Act”) provides that national and local governments
must, as their duty, make efforts to enhance cooperation between relevantorganizations and private entities, and support private entities in the prevention of
abuse of persons with disabilities, support rapid and proper protection of abused
persons with disabilities and their independence, and offer proper support for theirguardians. Article 29 of the Persons with Disabilities Abuse Prevention Act provides
that for the prevention of abuse of school children with disabilities, heads of schools
must take necessary measures such as establishment of a system in which consulting
services are provided to school children with disabilities and formulation of measures
to respond to cases of abuse. Based on Articles 32 and 36 of the Act, all municipal orprefectural governments have departments or facilities that perform the function of“municipal centers for the prevention of abuse of persons with disabilities” or“prefectural advocacy centers for persons with disabilities.”
111. The Penal Code provides that a person who commits assault (Article 208 of theCode), injury (Article 204 of the Code), abandonment by a person responsible forprotection (Article 218 of the Code), unlawful capture and confinement (Article 220 of
the Code), intimidation (Article 222 of the Code), compulsion (Article 223 of the Code),
etc. shall be punished. Therefore, perpetrators of the above offenses, including against
persons with disabilities, may be punished. With respect to the above offenses, theCode of Criminal Procedure provides investigative authority to judicial police
personnel, public prosecutors, public prosecutor’s assistance officers, etc. while giving
the prosecution authority to public prosecutors (Article 247 of the Code). If there arefacts in violation of punitive laws and regulations, the Public Prosecutors Officeproperly handles them based on laws and evidence.
112. If a public prosecutor makes a decision not to prosecute a case based on the resultsof an investigation, any person (including persons with disabilities) dissatisfied withthe result may, based on the Act on the Committee for Inquest of Prosecution, file acomplaint against such a decision with the Committee for Inquest of Prosecution. In
31

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certain cases, the Committee for Inquest of Prosecution may resolve to prosecute acase. In this case, the attorney designated by the court will prosecute the case.
113. The human rights bodies of the MOJ provide counseling services at nationwide
Legal Affairs Bureaus and District Legal Affairs Bureaus, concerning all forms ofhuman rights issues, including those related to persons with disabilities. If theyrecognize a case suspected of human rights violation, they conduct necessary
investigations as a human rights violation case, and take appropriate measures incollaboration and cooperation with related organizations.
114. The Basic Act on Crime Victims that took effect from December 2004 aims toprotect the rights and interests of crime victims, etc. by comprehensively andsystematically promoting measures for victims. Paragraph 1, Article 3 of the Act
provides the basic principle that the individual dignity of all crime victims, including
those with disabilities, will be respected and that appropriate measures of treatment
will be taken accordingly. Paragraph 2, Article 3 of the Act provides that measures forcrime victims are to take appropriate action according to the crime victims’ situationand other external factors. The “Second Basic Plan for Crime Victims,” which was
decided by the cabinet on March 2011 under the Act, has established the Four
Fundamental Principles ((1) guarantee the right of crime victims to be treatedappropriately while observing their dignity; (2) implement each measure properly,
while taking into account individual victims’ circumstances; (3) provide seamless andcontinuous support; and (4) progress while building the national consensus), and 241
specific measures under the foregoing four fundamental principles. At present,
related ministries and agencies implement such measures under the Plan.
115.In cases where physical safety must be ensured as soon as possible, such as spousal
violence, responsible organizations rapidly and properly respond, including arresting
victimizers and protecting victims, etc. while top priority is placed on ensuring thesafety of victims, etc. (the Act on the Prevention of Spousal Violence and theProtection of Victims).
116. Based on the Act on the Prevention of Spousal Violence and the Protection ofVictims, the Spousal Violence Counseling and Support Centers established by local
governments provide proper support such as consulting services for victims of spousal
violence, including those with disabilities.
117.The Act on the Prevention, etc. of Child Abuse (hereinafter the “Child Abuse
Prevention Act”) provides for the prohibition of child abuse, responsibilities ofnational and local governments to prevent and promptly detect child abuse, andmeasures, etc. for the protection of and support for the independence of abused
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children in order to facilitate their safety.
118. Based on Article 6 of the Child Abuse Prevention Act, if a child is found to havebeen abused, police authorities must immediately notify a child guidance center.
Article 10 of the Act provides that in the case where the director of a child guidance
center asks for assistance from a police station chief when confirming the safety of achild or taking a child into temporary custody if it is deemed necessary to confirm or
ensure his/her safety, the police station chief must take measures based on the Police
Official Duties Execution Act and other laws and regulations.
Article 17

Protecting the integrity of the person

119.The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities, in accordance with the principle that all
citizens, regardless of whether or not they have a disability, should be entitled todignity as irreplaceable individuals enjoying fundamental human rights, assumingthat all persons with disabilities should be entitled to dignity as individuals enjoying
fundamental human rights and that all persons with disabilities possess the right tobe guaranteed a life befitting of such dignity, provides that all persons withdisabilities are guaranteed the opportunity to participate in activities in society, theeconomy, culture, and other fields as constituent members of society (Articles 1 and 3of the Basic Act).
Article 18

Liberty of movement and nationality

120. Acquisition of nationality by birth, loss of nationality and renunciation ofnationality are provided for in Article 2, Article 11, and Article 13 of the Nationality
Act, respectively, and no distinction is made based on the presence of a disability. The
Nationality Act of Japan provides that no person shall be deprived of his/hernationality solely by reason of disability.
121. A certified copy of a family register or passport essentially constitutes a nationality
certificate in Japan. A certified copy of a family register can be obtained under Article
10 of the Family Register Act. When obtaining a certified copy of a family register, nodistinction is made based on the presence of a disability. Regarding the rights toregister a birth, possess a name, acquire nationality at birth, and know the names ofthe father and mother entered in the family register under the Family Register Act
and the Nationality Act, whether a person has a disability or not is considered to beirrelevant.
122. Article 22 of the Constitution of Japan provides that every person shall have thefreedom to change his/her residence and to move to a foreign country. The
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Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (hereinafter the “Immigration
Control Act”) has no provision to block the use of immigration procedures solely byreason of disability. Article 25 of the Immigration Control Act provides the procedure
to confirm the departure of a foreign national from Japan, while Article 61 of the Act
provides the procedure to confirm the return of a Japanese national to Japan. These
procedures under the Immigration Control Act don’t prohibit or restrict return to thehome country itself by a foreign or Japanese national, including a person with adisability.
Article 19

Living independently and being included in the community

123. The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides the basic principle that all
persons with disabilities are guaranteed the opportunity to participate in activities insociety, the economy, culture, and other fields as constituent members of society, andare guaranteed the opportunity, insofar as possible, to choose where and with whomthey live, and are not precluded from co-existing with other people in the local
community (Article 3 of the Basic Act). National and local governments must takenecessary measures to ensure that persons with disabilities are able to receive
appropriate support for living and other appropriate support for their independence(paragraph 3, Article 14 of the basic Act).
124. “Group homes with aid” are provided as a welfare service for persons withdisabilities under the Act on Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities sothat persons with disabilities can live in the community free of worry. “Group homes
with aid” provide for consultation, support in domestic affairs, etc., and aid in dailyliving such as care for meals, bathing, etc., if necessary, at houses where persons withdisabilities who cannot live alone reside jointly with others and independently (grouphomes).
Persons with disabilities can live in the community only if they receive necessary
support at home. Therefore, in addition to “home help services” in which care forbathing, toilet needs, meals, etc. is provided at home, “home-visit care for persons
with severe disabilities,” “accompanying support services,” “activity support services”
and “comprehensive support for persons with severe disabilities” are also provided
depending on the actual condition of users and the types of services provided.
125. In addition to the above, in the case where persons with disabilities must be
admitted to facilities for the reason that home caregivers of persons with disabilities
become sick or for other reasons, a “short-stay service,” in which care for bathing, etc.
is provided for a short period of time, including at night, is also available.
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126. To help improve the daily life and social life of persons with physical disabilities
and patients with intractable/rare diseases, etc., the “devices expense subsidy system”
has been implemented. In this system, part of the expenses for the purchase or repairof devices (prosthetics, orthotics, wheelchairs, white canes, hearing aids, etc.) that
support or substitute body functions is subsidized. In addition to the above, “technicalaids provision services” are provided in a flexible manner depending on the actual
conditions of the communities and the needs of persons with disabilities, as municipal
governments’ community life support services under Article 77 of the Act onComprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities. With such services, special
beds, special mats, bathing support equipment, and other items are provided orloaned to persons with disabilities, etc. in order to help improve the convenience of
their everyday lives.
127. The System for Physical Disability Certificate, the System for Intellectual
Disability Certificate and the System for Health and Welfare Certificate of Persons
with Mental Disabilities are established for persons with physical disabilities,
persons with intellectual disabilities and persons with mental disabilities,
respectively. Various support measures are implemented for certificate holders.
128.With respect to the hospital-to-community transition of persons with mental
disabilities who are hospitalized for a long period of time, the Review Conference
which constituted by experts and mental disabilities parties was held and discussed
specific measures, etc. concerning the establishment of local supportive organs andconcluded that to further promote the transition it will be essential to strictly
implement measures, including support to leave the hospital and support to enable
persons with mental disabilities to live in a community, including securing a
residence. It will also be necessary to realize structural reform for hospitals so as toenhance medical care necessary for persons with mental disabilities living in thecommunity to maintain and continue their life after their discharge from the hospital.
Based on the above conclusion, efforts will be made to implement necessary
measures.
129. The Act on Medical Care and Social Supports for Patients with Intractable/Rare
Diseases (hereinafter the “Intractable/Rare Disease Act”) took effect in January 2015.
The basic philosophy of this Act is to implement measures for patients withintractable/rare diseases in a comprehensive manner to ensure that they are
guaranteed the opportunity to participate in activities in society and are notprecluded from co-existing with other people in the local community while preserving
their dignity (See Article 25 “Health”).
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130. In April 2013, the Act on Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities wasamended to include patients with intractable/rare diseases, etc. in the scope of
persons with disabilities who can use welfare service, including “group homes withaid” and “home help services.” The number of diseases to be included in the list of
intractable/rare diseases, etc. was expanded from 130, as of April 2013, to 332,
effective from July 2015 (See Article 21 “Freedom of expression and opinion, andaccess to information” for communication support).
131. With respect to this article, the Policy Commission has provided the following

observation (See the Appendix for details).
As for support for the hospital-to-community transition of persons with severe
disorders, etc. in need of medical care, it was found to be difficult to use such support
in some cases for the reason that the level or operation of services is different from
community to community, or because the parents or guardians of the patients
became overburdened in some cases. It is necessary for persons with severe disorders,etc. to be guaranteed 24-hour medical care and nursing care so that they can live
humanely.
As for support for the hospital-to-community transition of persons with mental
disabilities, psychiatric care itself needs to be extended to communities. While it isnecessary to provide the hospital-to-community transition of such persons, it is also
important to develop resources so that they can live their lives in their communities
by supporting them with home-visit care, etc.
Article 20

Personal mobility

132.The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities obligates national and local
governments to: take necessary measures to ensure that persons with disabilities areable to receive appropriate support for living and other appropriate support for their
independence (paragraph 3 of Article 14 of the Basic Act); endeavor to develop
officials with expertise and skills (paragraph 4 of Article 14 of the Basic Act);

ensurethat persons with disabilities are able insofar as possible to receive appropriate
support at a location that is convenient, and in addition, fully respect their humanrights when doing so (paragraph 5 of Article 14 of the Basic Act); take necessary
measures including the provision or loaning of welfare assistance devices andassistance dogs for persons with physical disabilities and other necessary measures toenable such persons to engage in daily life (paragraph 6 of Article 14 of the Basic Act);and promote the research and development of welfare assistance devices and trainingof assistance dogs for persons with physical disabilities (paragraph 7 of Article 14 of36

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the Basic Act).
133. The “accompanying support services” are provided as welfare services for persons
with disabilities under the Act on Comprehensive Support for Persons with
Disabilities. The accompanying support services provide persons with disabilities, etc.
who have serious mobility issues due to vision disability with information necessary
for traveling as well as mobility support, etc., while they are out. In February 2015,
21,910 persons used such services. This number is approximately 2.6 times higher
than in the month of establishment of the system (8,299 persons in October 2011).
Municipalities implement a “transportation support service” as part of theircommunity life support services under Article 77 of the Act on Comprehensive
Support for Persons with Disabilities. They provide the support service for traveling,including the dispatch of guide helpers, depending on characteristics of the local
community, to persons with disabilities, etc. who find it difficult to travel outdoors sothat they can lead independent lives in the community and participate in social
activities. The number of persons who used such services in March 2014 was 100,488.
134. Paragraph 1, Article 3 of the Act on Assistance Dogs for Physically Disabled
Persons provides that assistance dog training business operators must properly
understand the types of assistance needed by persons with disabilities who wish touse assistance dogs (guide dogs, service dogs and hearing dogs), and conduct trainingof the dogs in view of the conditions of the persons with physical disabilities
concerned in order to develop excellent assistance dogs. The “Project for Training
Assistance Dogs for Physically Disabled Persons” is implemented as part ofprefectural governments’ community life support services under Article 78 of the Act
on Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities. The Project subsidizes theexpenses for developing assistance dogs for persons with physical disabilities who are
expected to participate in social activities through their use.
Article 21

Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information

135.The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that national and local
governments must take necessary measures such as expanding the use ofuser-friendly computers and related equipment and other information andcommunications equipment, increasing convenience for persons with disabilities
relating to the use of services for telecommunications and broadcasting, anddeveloping facilities for the provision of information to persons with disabilities(paragraph 1, Article 22 of the Basic Act). National and local governments are
obligated to give particular consideration to the convenience of use for persons with37

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disabilities being ensured when promoting the informatization of administration andutilization of information and communications technology in the public sector(paragraph 2, Article 22 of the Basic Act).
136. With respect to the acceptance and facilitation of use of means, forms and mannerof communications, including sign language and braille, in official activities, the Basic
Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that all persons with disabilities areguaranteed the opportunity, insofar as possible, to choose their language (including
sign language) and other means of communication to enable mutual understanding,with opportunities for choosing the means of acquisition or use of information to be
expanded (Article 3 of the Basic Act). Some local governments established a Sign
Language Ordinance and are proactively promoting sign language.
137.With respect to requesting enterprises that provide services to the general public toprovide information and services in a manner that can be used by persons withdisabilities and encouraging the mass media to make their information services
accessible to such persons, the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides thatprivate entities providing services related to electronic communications andbroadcasting and other forms of information provision must endeavor to ensure
convenience of use for persons with disabilities in providing said services (paragraph
3, Article 22 of the Basic Act).
138. The Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities (Second) (III7. (2) a) provides thatthe guidelines, etc. for the design of information and communications equipment thatis usable by persons with disabilities will be included in the Japanese Industrial
Standards (JIS). “JIS X8341-3 Guidelines for the elderly and persons withdisabilities—Information

andcommunications

equipment,

softwareandservices—Part 3: Web content” were established in 2004. In June 2013, a guide tosoftware design for information and communications equipment that is usable by theelderly and persons with disabilities, etc. was included in the JIS.
139.Under Articles 77 and 78 of the Act on Comprehensive Support for Persons with
Disabilities, municipal and prefectural governments implement: community life
support services, in which communication support persons (sign language
interpreters, summary scribes, interpreting assistants for persons who are deafblind,etc.) are dispatched or stationed, or support in the form of braille or audio
interpretation, etc. is provided to persons with disabilities, etc. who find it difficult tocommunicate with others due to hearing, speech, voice, vision, or other disabilities;
and other services, in which braille volunteers, reading volunteers, summarizedtranscript writers, sign language volunteers, sign language interpreters, etc., are38

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trained. Effective from April 2013, prefectural governments are obligated to
implement services to develop sign language interpreters, summarized transcript
writers, and interpreting assistants for persons who are deafblind, and if municipal
governments cannot implement services to dispatch communication support persons,prefectural governments are obligated to implement such services in order to enhancecommunication support.
140. To promote social participation by persons with visual/hearing disabilities,
information service centers for persons with visual or hearing disabilities that
produce and loan out braille or audio books and closed-captioned (sign language)
videos and films, etc., dispatch sign language interpreters and summarized transcript
writers, and provide consultation services, have been established.
141. The “quick news service in braille,” with which persons with visual disabilities canquickly receive newspaper information and other information in the form of brailledata at braille libraries, etc. across the country through a network and can accessinformation on the service’s website at home, is provided, while information on brailleand audio books, etc. is available through the general information network forpersons with visual disabilities, “Sapie.”(See Article 9 “Accessibility” for the dissemination of closed-captioned broadcasting, etc.,
and the provision or R&D of communication and broadcasting services).
142. With respect to this article, the Policy Commission has provided the following

observation (See the Appendix for details).
Information provision and communication support must be further enhanced. With
respect to various media and situations, there are challenges concerning responses incases of emergency, responses to persons who use highly individualized
communication methods, and cross-ministerial responses.
It was noted that challenges remain concerning the provision of accessible texts
corresponding to the diversity of persons with disabilities and barrier-free access toadministrative information.
Article 22

Respect for privacy

143. The Penal Code provides that a person who commits breaking into a residence(Article 130 of the Code), unlawful disclosure of confidential information (paragraph 1,
Article 134 of the Code), defamation (Article 230 of the Code), insults (Article 231 of
the Code), and damage to credit (Article 233 of the Code), etc. shall be punished.
Therefore, perpetrators who commit the above offenses, including against persons
with disabilities, may be punished. If there are facts in violation of punitive laws and39

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regulations, the Public Prosecutor’s Office properly handles them based on laws andevidence.
144. If the privacy of a person with or without disabilities is breached by the illegal act
of a violator, the affected person may demand compensation for damages in tort
against him/her (Articles 709 and 710 of the Civil Code). If a violator’s act falls under
defamation, the person may file an application with the court ordering the violator toeffect appropriate measures to restore the affected person’s reputation, including
publication of an apology (Article 723 of the Civil Code). In this case, although there
are no explicit provisions in the Civil Code, it is understood that the person whose
privacy is violated may, based on his/her personal rights, file an application with thecourt ordering the violator to discontinue the criminal act or forbid said act to prevent
potential infringement in the future.
145.With respect to information by which specific individuals, including persons withdisabilities, can be identified (personal information), the Personal Information
Protection Act imposes obligations, including restriction due to purpose of use (Article
16 of the Act), restriction of provision to third parties (Article 23 of the Act), security
measures (Article 20 of the Act), and responses to requests for disclosure, etc. fromthe data subject (Articles 25 through 27 of the Act), to ensure appropriate handling of
personal information. The revised Act containing the provision concerning special
rules for personal information for which special consideration must be required to
avoid any unfair discrimination, prejudice or other disadvantage to the data subject(sensitive personal information ) was enacted in September 2015.
146.Article 49 of the MHLW Ordinance for Facility Standards provides that employees
and managers of designated support facilities for persons with disabilities, etc. should
not disclose, without just cause, personal information of users or their families thatthey come to know during the course of performing their duties, and that they musttake necessary measures to prevent former employees, etc. of designated support
facilities for persons with disabilities, etc. from disclosing such information. In
addition to designated support facilities for persons with disabilities, etc., welfare
service offices for persons with disabilities under the Act on Comprehensive Support
for Persons with Disabilities and designated facilities for children with disabilities,
etc. under the Child Welfare Act are subject to similar regulations.
147. Articles 53 and 53-2 of the Mental Health and Welfare Act specify provisions
concerning punishments to be applied if personnel who are in positions in which thepersonal information of persons with mental disabilities can become known during
the course of performing their duties, such as managers of psychiatric hospitals and40

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designated psychiatrists, disclose such information without just cause.
Article 23

Respect for home and the family148. Article 24 of the Constitution of Japan guarantees freedom of marriage (if an adultward marries or agrees to an amicable divorce, the consent of his/her adult guardianis not required (Articles 738 and 764 of the Civil Code)). Under the Civil Code ofJapan, as long as the rights and obligations for guardianship, supervision, property
management and child adoption are adhered to, whether or not a person concerned
has a disability is considered to be irrelevant.
149. A person with parental authority has the right to designate his/her child’s
residence (Article 821 of the Civil Code). This ensures that a child cannot be
separated from its father/mother against his/her will. However, if the interests of thechild are severely damaged due to abuse, etc. from the father or mother, the child may
be separated from the offending parent based on the ruling of loss of parental
authority as it pertains to the father or mother (Article 834 of the Civil Code).
Likewise, if the interests of the child are damaged for the reason that the father ormother finds it difficult to exercise his/her parental rights, the child may be separated
from said parent(s) based on the ruling of suspension of parental authority as it
pertains to the father or mother (Article 834-2 of the Civil Code). In the case where
there is no person with parental authority over a minor based on the above rulings,
guardianship will commence (Article 838 of the Civil Code).
150. Japan understands that the provision of paragraph 4 of Article 23 of theConvention does not prevent proper disposition by States Parties for the purpose of
immigration control. Since the wording of the provision does not unambiguously
support the above understanding, however, Japan made an interpretative declaration
to the effect that the provision of paragraph 4 of Article 23 of the Convention does not
apply in the case where a child is separated from its father/mother as a result ofdeportation under the Immigration Control Act.
151.The municipal governments’ community living support services under Article 77 of
the Act on Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities provide: consultation
support, necessary information and advice, etc. to persons with disabilities, etc.,
parents or guardians of children with disabilities or caregivers of persons withdisabilities, etc. with regard to various problems related to the welfare of persons withdisabilities, etc. in communities; and necessary support, including communication,
coordination, etc. with the authorities concerned, in order to prevent and promptly
uncover the abuse of such persons. Prefectural governments’ community living
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support services under Article 78 of the Act on Comprehensive Support for Persons
with Disabilities implement highly specialized consultation support.
152. In FY2014, the Act Partially Amending the Child Welfare Act was promulgatedand enforced. As a result, a new medical expenses subsidy system for children who
require treatment for specific chronic pediatric diseases was established and an
independence support service for such children was legislated (Articles 19-2 through19-22 of the revised Child Welfare Act).
153. Article 12 of the Child Welfare Act obligates the establishment of child guidance
centers. The Act provides that the consulting and assistance activities of childguidance centers must always be conducted so as to meet the best interests of thechildren. If consultation is requested or notification is received, child guidance centers
properly respond in consideration of the situation with regard to the children andtheir families in accordance with the Act. If a parent or guardian abuses a child,engages in extreme neglect of a child in his/her care, or if the care of a child by theparent or guardian significantly harms his/her welfare, prefectural governments takemeasures, etc., including facility admission, in consideration of the child’s bestinterests. If it is found to be extremely difficult for the child to receive childcare forunavoidable reasons, municipal governments must provide childcare. These
measures, etc. must be taken whether or not the child has a disability.
Article 24 Education
154.Article 26 of the Constitution of Japan provides that all people shall have the rightto receive an equal education correspondent to their ability, and that all people shallbe obligated to have the children who are under their protection receive ordinary
education and such compulsory education shall be free.
155. Paragraph 2, Article 4 of the Basic Act on Education provides that national andlocal governments shall provide the necessary educational support to ensure that
persons with disabilities receive an adequate education in accordance with their levelof disability. Article 16 of the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides thatnational and local governments must provide accommodation to children andstudents with disabilities such that they are able to receive their education together
with children and students without disabilities insofar as possible, in order to ensurethat they are able to receive a full education based on their age and capabilities and inaccordance with their particular characteristics. National and local governments also
must take necessary measures to improve and enhance the content and methods ofthe education, and must conduct surveys and research in relation to the education of42

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persons with disabilities.
156.With a view to assisting infants, children and students with disabilities to become
independent or participate in social activities based on the system of laws concerningschool education, schools implement special needs education by providing appropriate
guidance and necessary support to them in order to assess the educational needs ofindividuals, help enhance their capabilities and help improve or overcome theirdifficulties in life and learning, while diverse places of learning such as normalclasses, special support service in resource rooms, special needs education classes,
and special needs education schools are established. The national government willcontinue to take measures to enrich these diverse places of learning. As of May 2014,
the number of children and students who receive special support service in resource
rooms at elementary and junior-high schools totaled 83,750 (as of May 2009: 54,021);
the number of children and students enrolled in special needs education classes atelementary and junior-high schools totaled 187,100 (as of May 2009: 135,166); and thenumber of infants, children and students enrolled in special needs education schools(from kindergarten division to high school division) totaled 135,617 (as of May 2009:
117,035). Considering the provision of Article 16 of the Basic Act for Persons with
Disabilities to the effect that “national and local governments must promote mutual
understanding between children and students with disabilities and children andstudents without disabilities by proactively facilitating their interaction and joint
studies” and others, interaction and joint studies between children, students, etc. whoare enrolled in special needs education schools on the one hand and children andstudents without disabilities who are enrolled in elementary and junior-high schools,
etc. on the other are conducted. In Japan, the number of children and students
subject to a moratorium on, or an exception to, compulsory education due to poor
health or incomplete development upon request of a parent or guardian totaled 48 in
FY2014 (0.0005%).
157. Special needs education assistants who provide support, etc. related to daily lifeand learning are dispatched to kindergartens, elementary and junior-high schools
and high schools. The number of special needs education assistants is expanded year
after year. In FY2014, local governments implemented fiscal measures for 49,700
special needs education assistants, which was 3,400 more compared to the previous
year. In addition, the number of infants, children and students who need medical careon a daily basis was 7,774 in public special needs education schools in FY2014 (7,842
in FY2013) and 976 in public elementary and junior-high schools in FY2014 (813 in
FY2013). The number of parents, etc. who currently accompany children and students
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with disabilities in school on a daily basis is 1,897.
158.With respect to the method of school selection, the Order for Enforcement of the
School Education Act was revised in August 2013 as follows: the conventionalframework of school selection in which children with disabilities falling under theschool attendance standards must, in principle, be enrolled in special needs education
schools was revised, and a new framework of school selection in which schools forchildren with disabilities are selected in comprehensive consideration of the specificsof the disabilities, educational needs for children with disabilities, opinions ofchildren with disabilities and those of their parents/guardians, opinions of experts in
education, medicine, psychology, etc., and conditions of schools and communities, etc.
was introduced; and opportunities to hear the opinions of parents/guardians andexperts were expanded. It was then decided that schools would be selected byeducation committees after respecting the opinions of children with disabilities andtheir parents/guardians. The number of children with disabilities who were expected
to be enrolled in elementary schools or special needs education schools (as a new first
grader) in FY2014 and were subject to investigation and examination by Municipal
Educational Support Committees, etc. was 42,352 (39,208 in FY2013). Of these, 8,651(8,453 in FY2013) fell under the provision of Article 22-3 (the extent which enables
entering special needs education schools) of the Order for Enforcement of the School
Education Act. Among of these, the number of children who entered special needs
education schools was 6,341 (6,190 in FY2013).
159. Support, including the granting of a school attendance incentive for special needs
education, is provided to parents/guardians, etc. of children and students withdisabilities to reduce their economic burden.
160.The Course of Study for elementary and junior-high schools provides for: thenecessity to devise content and methods of guidance in a planned manner, dependingon the conditions, etc. of the disabilities of individual children and students by
preparing individual education support plans, etc.; the necessity to hold opportunities
for interaction and joint studies between children and students with disabilities andthose without disabilities; and the necessity to guide children and students without
disabilities to treat everybody fairly and impartially and make efforts to realize asociety in which people do not suffer disadvantage from discrimination or bias and to
make efforts to enhance communication with persons with disabilities. The ratio of
preparation of individual education support plans for children and students withdisabilities at kindergartens, elementary and junior-high schools, and high schools
has increased year after year. The ratio of preparation of such plans for FY2014 was
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81.5%.
161. The Course of Study for Special Needs Education Schools provides matters to beconsidered based on the type of disabilities involved. Matters to be considered by theelementary and junior-high school division of special needs education schools that
educate children and students with visual disabilities include: “children with visualdisabilities must be guided in a systematic way to read and write braille or normal
text, depending on the condition of their visual disabilities so that they can acquire
reading and writing skills; and children who learn by using braille on a routine basis
must be properly guided to understand Chinese characters or words depending on thelevel, etc. of their development.” Therefore, proper guidance is provided by taking into
consideration such matters. The matters to be considered by the elementary andjunior-high school division of special needs education schools that educate children
and students with hearing disabilities include: “guidance methods must be devised sothat children with hearing disabilities can actively communicate with each other by
properly utilizing various means of communication, including voice, characters andsign language, depending on the condition of their hearing disabilities, etc.” Therefore,
guidance by selecting and utilizing diverse communication means, including sign
language, is provided. In addition, content regarding sign language or braille isprovided in trainings of the independent administrative institutions The National
Institute of Special Needs Education targeted at prefectural leaders. In the casewhere special curriculums are prepared for special support service in resource rooms
at elementary and junior-high schools or for special needs education classes, it was
decided that curriculums suitable for actual conditions must be compiled in a flexible
manner by referring to the Course of Study for special needs education schools.
162. The Act on Promotion of Distribution of Specified Books, etc. Used as Textbooks for
Disabled Children and Students provides that the numbers of textbooks in whichcharacters, graphics, etc. are enlarged and the numbers of textbooks in braille thatare published must be increased further, and the distribution of specified books, etc.
used as textbooks must be promoted by taking necessary measures, etc. to facilitate
the use of such books, etc. All enlarged textbooks that conform to the textbooks thatare used in FY2014 at compulsory education schools such as elementary andjunior-high schools, etc. have been published. In regard to the high school stage, allenlarged textbooks for main subjects that are used at special needs education schools
for the visually impaired have been published. Nevertheless, enlarged textbooks forhigh schools have not been sufficiently distributed because there are a lot of types oftextbooks, so surveys and research on their promotion are continuing.
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163.The Educational Personnel Certification Law, etc. provides that persons who wish
to acquire a normal teaching certificate for kindergartens, elementary andjunior-high schools and high schools must earn the credit of a subject that includes
special needs education. Teachers of special needs education schools must, inprinciple, have a special needs education schools teaching certificate.
164. Based on the objective of the Basic Act on Education, the Basic Program for
Persons with Disabilities prepared by the national government provides thatconsiderations to help promote the school attendance of children and students withdisabilities in upper secondary education and job support must be enhanced incollaboration with measures related to welfare, labor, etc. As for support for higher
education, the Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities provides that information
guarantees

forstudentswithdisabilities,

condition-related

considerations,barrier-free facilities, proper consideration during the time of entrance examination,etc. and information disclosure by universities, etc. in accordance with the particularcharacteristics of each disability must be promoted.
165. Article 3 of the Basic Act on Education provides the “concept of lifelong learning,”
which means that all members of society, including national and local governments,
schools, families, various organizations and companies, must, based on the common
understanding of all people, including persons with disabilities, make efforts torealize a society in which the people can continue to learn throughout their lives.
Article 4 of the Basic Act on Education provides for equal opportunity in education,and paragraph 2 of the same article provides that national and local governments
shall provide the necessary educational support to ensure that persons withdisabilities receive an adequate education in accordance with their level of disability.
Article 12 of the Act sets down the aspects of social education and provides thatnational and local governments shall encourage education that takes place within thecommunity and society in response to the demands of individuals and of thecommunity and society as a whole.
166. Article 15-6 and Article 16 of the Human Resources Development Promotion Act
provide for the establishment, etc. of Polytechnic Schools for Persons with Disabilities(19 in total). Paragraph 4 of Article 3-2 of the Act provides that vocational training for
persons with physical or mental disabilities, etc. shall be offered by giving particularconsideration to their physical or mental conditions. Consideration is given to persons
with disabilities at other vocational training facilities. The number of persons withdisabilities who are enrolled in public polytechnic schools was 608 in FY2012 and 663
in FY2013.
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167. With respect to this article, the Policy Commission has noted that it is necessary to

discuss the state for which Japan should aim and to develop indicators for monitoring
the status of progress and collect data in order to promote inclusive education. The
Policy Commission then noted that there are specific challenges related to theimprovement of the environment, including individualized education support plans,
ensuring the effectiveness of individualized education plans, enhancement of
reasonable accommodation, respecting the will of persons with disabilities and theirparents/guardians, the allocation of special needs education assistants, and theprovision of texts in accordance with educational needs (See the Appendix for
details).
Article 25

Health168.The Act on Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities regards medical
treatment to reduce or remove physical disabilities (medical rehabilitation service
and medical aid for children with disabilities) and continuous medical treatment
for mental diseases (outpatient mental medical service) as medical support for
self-help for the reason that such medical treatment is necessary to reduce
impediments to persons with disabilities, etc. and is necessary for them to lead a
self-reliant life or normal social life, and subsidizes part or all of such medical
expenses in order to enhance medical care and medical rehabilitation services forsuch persons.
169. In March 2014, the “guideline for securing the offer of high quality and appropriate
medical care for persons with mental disabilities” (MHLW Notification No.65, 2014),
which indicates the direction for all persons involved in health, medical care andwelfare for persons with mental disabilities, was announced. The guideline provides
that a system to enable the provision of health and medical care services and welfare
services, which are necessary for persons with mental disabilities to live incommunities, must be established in order to realize a reform from inpatient mental
care to mental care that can support persons with mental disabilities living incommunities.
170. Measures were taken to enhance the system to provide medical care, such asperinatal medical care, in which advanced medical care is provided to high risk
pregnant mothers and newborn infants, and emergency medical care, etc., in which
proper care is provided for external injuries, etc. In addition, R&D activities
concerning the clarification of causes and clinical conditions, prevention andtreatment, etc. of diseases, etc. are promoted, while efforts are made to promote R&D
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and accelerate practical application of technology in new medical fields, including
regenerative medicine. With respect to the development of health personnel, efforts
were made to improve the quality of medical care professionals such as doctors,
dentists, nursing personnel, physical therapists, occupational therapists andspeech-language-hearing therapists, etc.
171. To promote measures for intractable/rare diseases, a bill on intractable/rare
disease was submitted to the Diet in February 2014. The Intractable/Rare Disease
Act was enacted in May 2014 and enforced from January 2015. The contents include:(1) the establishment of the basic policy to promote measures in a comprehensive
manner; (2) the establishment of a fair and stable system concerning subsidization of
medical expenses; and (3) the promotion of R&D, etc. (subjects of R&D include
patients with disabilities caused by intractable/rare diseases). By July 2015, thenumber of diseases eligible for subsidization of medical expenses was increased from56 to 306. Diseases not presently included in these 306 are subject to future
consideration for their designation as intractable/rare diseases if research concludes
that they clearly meet the requirements for being designated as such subsidized
diseases.
Article 26

Habilitation and rehabilitation

172. The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that national and local
governments must take the necessary measures to provide necessary rehabilitation(paragraph 1, Article 14 of the Basic Act). With respect to training for personnel
engaged in habilitation and rehabilitation services, the Basic Act for Persons with
Disabilities obligates national and local governments to endeavor to develop
specialized engineering officials or any other officials with expertise and skills(paragraph 4, Article 14 of the Basic Act). With respect to the promotion of usability,
etc. of assistive devices and technologies, which are necessary for habilitation andrehabilitation, the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities obligates national

andlocal governments to take necessary measures, including the provision or loaning of
welfare assistance devices and other necessary measures to enable persons withdisabilities to engage in normal daily life (paragraph 6, Article 14 of the Basic Act),and to promote the research and development, etc. of welfare assistance devices(paragraph 7, Article 14 of the Basic Act).
173.Paragraph 1, Article 8 of the Act for the Promotion of Employment for Persons with
Disabilities provides that measures for vocational rehabilitation must be taken in an
integrated and effective manner in accordance with the type and degree of disability
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of individual persons, their hopes, aptitudes, work experience, etc. As of April 2016,
the number of Public Employment Security Offices (Hello Work offices), Local
Vocational Centers for Persons with Disabilities, and The Employment andVocational Life Support Centers for Persons with Disabilities totaled 544, 52 and 328,
respectively, across the country. Thus, these facilities are located as close as possible
to communities where persons with disabilities live.
174. Based on the provisions of subparagraph 3 of Article 20 and other provisions of the
Act for the Promotion of Employment for Persons with Disabilities, the developmentof and training for vocational counselors for persons with disabilities and job coaches
for persons with disabilities who are engaged in vocational rehabilitation services forsuch persons are provided at National Institutes of Vocational Rehabilitation, etc.
Furthermore, based on the provision of subparagraph 1 of the same article, National
Institutes

ofVocational

Rehabilitation

conduct

R&D

concerning

vocational

rehabilitation skills corresponding to various disabilities, and R&D concerning work
support equipment, which is helpful for expanding the employment of persons withdisabilities. The Japan Organization for Employment of the Elderly, Persons with
Disabilities and Job Seekers promotes the use of work support equipment by loaning
the equipment free of charge to business owners and associations of business owners
for a certain period of time.
Article 27

Work and employment

175. The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that no person may commit an
act of discrimination or any other act that violates the interests or rights of a personwith a disability on the basis of said disability (paragraph 1, Article 4 of the Basic Act).
The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities obligates national and local governments
to implement vocational counseling, vocational guidance, vocational training,
employment placement, and other necessary measures (paragraph 1, Article 18 of the
Basic Act), and to take measures to prioritize the employment of persons withdisabilities for job types or workplaces that are suitable for them in order to promote
their employment (paragraph 1, Article 19 of the Basic Act). Furthermore, the Basic
Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that national and local governments must
subsidize expenses required for the preparation of facilities or equipment, etc.
necessary for business owners to employ persons with disabilities and take othernecessary measures (paragraph 3, Article 19 of the Basic Act).
176.With respect to the promotion of employment of persons with disabilities based on
proper measures, etc., including affirmative action, Articles 38 and 43 of the Act for49

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the Promotion of Employment for Persons with Disabilities obligate business owners,
etc. to employ a number of persons with disabilities which exceeds the number (thelegal number of persons with disabilities to be employed) obtained by multiplying thenumber of regular employees of each business owner by the legal employment rate
(public organizations: 2.3%, private organizations: 2.0%). For the calculation of thequota, persons with severe physical and intellectual disabilities are counted as two
disabled workers. In the case of part-time workers (whose prescribed working hours
are 20-30 hours per week), they are counted as 0.5 towards the quota. As of June 2015,
the actual employment rate of private companies was 1.88% (1.82% in the previousyear) and the number of employed persons with disabilities was 453,133.5, anincrease of 21,908 or 5.14% over the previous year. The number of employed persons
with disabilities has hit a record level for 12 successive years. Thus, the number of
employed persons with disabilities in Japan has steadily increased. Based on the typeof disability involved, the number of employed persons with physical disabilities,
intellectual disabilities and mental disabilities was 320,752.5, 97,744 and 34,637,
respectively.
177.To regulate the economic burden among business owners, a “levy based on thenumber of employed persons with disabilities” is collected from business owners who
employ a number of persons with disabilities that is less than the legal number of
persons with disabilities to be employed, while an “adjustment allowance based on
the number of employed persons with disabilities” is paid to business owners who
employ a number of persons with disabilities that is equal to or more than the legal
number of persons with disabilities to be employed. Furthermore, based on theprovisions of Article 49 of the Act for the Promotion of Employment for Persons with
Disabilities, various grants in aid are provided to those business owners who satisfy
necessary conditions, in addition to an “adjustment allowance based on the number of
employed persons with disabilities,” so as to regulate the economic burden pertaining
to the employment of persons with disabilities, and further promote and help tomaintain the employment of persons with disabilities.
178. To help increase employment opportunities for persons with disabilities in thelabour market, various rehabilitation services, including job placement, are provided
based on the provisions of Chapter 2 of the Act for the Promotion of Employment for
Persons with Disabilities. In FY2014, the number of successful cases of employmentof persons with disabilities through job placement by Hello Work offices was 84,602, a
record for the fifth year in a row. Among these, the numbers of successful cases of
employment of persons with physical disabilities, intellectual disabilities, mental
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disabilities, and other disabilities (developmental disabilities, higher brain
dysfunction, etc.) were 28,715, 18,723, 34,538 and 3,166, respectively.
179.The Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities provides that “to further promote a
shift from welfare, education, medical care, etc. to employment, consistent support
services ranging from the promotion of practical work training at companies andpre-employment support to post-employment job retention support must be provided
in close coordination among Hello Work offices, Local Vocational Centers for Persons
with Disabilities, and the Employment and Vocational Life Support Centers for
Persons with Disabilities.” In the “team support project,” personnel from Hello Work
offices as core team members established a collaboration system for all related
persons such as personnel, etc. of welfare facilities, and such teams provided
consistent

supportservicesrangingfrompre-employment

supporttopost-employment job retention support. In FY2014, the teams supported 26,156
persons with disabilities, and 14,005 of them obtained a job. The breakdown of thenumbers of persons eligible for the support provided by the “team support project” isas follows: 3,068 persons with physical disabilities, 11,099 persons with intellectual
disabilities, 10,865 persons with mental disabilities, and 1,124 persons with otherdisabilities. The breakdown of the numbers of persons who obtained employment is:
1,645 for persons with physical disabilities, 6,301 for persons with intellectual
disabilities, 5,579 for persons with mental disabilities, and 480 for persons with otherdisabilities.
180.The Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities provides: that “the establishment
and improvement of functions of The Employment and Vocational Life Support
Centers for Persons with Disabilities, which are the hub of cooperation amongorganizations related to employment, health and welfare, education, etc., will beenhanced in the neighborhoods of communities where persons with disabilities live inorder to provide comprehensive consultation support ranging from employment todaily life; and that post-employment job retention support will be continued incollaboration with employment support organizations.” In FY2014, Employment andVocational Living support Centers for Persons with Disabilities supported 140,838
persons in total, with the number of successful cases of employment of persons withphysical disabilities totaling 18,379.
181. With respect to this article, the Policy Commission has provided the following

observation (See the Appendix for details).
To promote the employment of persons with disabilities and increase the number ofsuccessful employment cases, it will be important to further enhance support for51

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persons with disabilities and business owners, and provide business owners withinformation concerning the objective of the revised Act for the Promotion of
Employment for Persons with Disabilities and the “Guidelines on Prohibition ofDiscrimination against Persons with Disabilities” and the “Guidelines on Reasonable
Accommodation” under related laws so that such principles will be strictly complied
with.
Article 28

Adequate standard of living and social protection

182. The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that national and local
governments must take necessary measures relating to the system of pensions,benefits, etc. in order to contribute to the independence of persons with disabilities
and the stability of their lives (Article 15 of the Basic Act). With respect to securing
housing, the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities obligates national and local
governments to take necessary measures to secure housing for persons withdisabilities and to promote the preparation of housing (Article 20 of the Basic Act).
Furthermore, the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities obligates national and local
governments to take necessary measures in order to reduce the economic burden on
persons with disabilities (Article 24 of the Basic Act).
183.As a form of welfare service for persons with disabilities under the Act onComprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities, “transition support for
employment” is provided, consisting of training, etc. necessary for persons withdisabilities intending to work for companies in order to acquire knowledge andimprove their capabilities, while opportunities to work are provided to persons withdisabilities who find it difficult to work for companies, etc., along with “support forcontinuous employment,” consisting of training, etc. necessary for such persons toacquire knowledge and improve their capabilities. In FY2013, the number of persons
with disabilities who utilized the work-related welfare service to obtain a job was
10,001, a sharp increase from 7,717 seen in FY2012.
184. With respect to public housing occupancy, local governments managing
publicly-operated housing provide, at their own discretion, preferential treatment tocertain households of persons with disabilities when they screen occupants (2005
Notification from the Director of the Housing Bureau of the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)).
(See Article 9 “Accessibility” for improving access to publicly-operated housing).
185. Based on the Act Concerning the Payment of Special Child Rearing Allowance, aspecial child rearing allowance is paid to children with mental or physical52

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disabilities—a special child rearing allowance is paid to children with serious mental
or physical disabilities; and a welfare allowance for children with disability is paid tochildren with very serious mental or physical disabilities. As of the end of FY2013, thespecial child rearing allowance, special child rearing allowance and welfare allowancefor children with disability were paid to 225,201 persons, 66,632 persons and 121,372
persons, respectively.
Article 29

Participation in political and public life

186. Article 28 of the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that national andlocal governments must develop facilities or equipment for polling stations and takeother necessary measures so that persons with disabilities are able to smoothly voteat an election, national referendum, or poll conducted pursuant to laws or ordinances.
187. Based on Article 47 of the Public Offices Election Act and Article 39 of the Order for
Enforcement of the Public Office Election Act, persons with visual disabilities can casttheir ballots in braille. Based on Article 48 of the Act, persons who cannot write thename, etc. of a candidate on a paper ballot by themselves due to mental or physicaldisorder, etc. can cast a ballot by proxy (or cast a paper ballot on which the name, etc.
of a candidate selected by persons who cannot write by themselves is written by ahelper). Based on Article 49 of the Act, persons with disabilities who are hospitalized
or accepted by hospitals, nursing homes for the aged, support facilities for persons
with disabilities, etc. that are designated by prefectural election administrationcommittees can cast a ballot at such facilities (absentee balloting at designatedfacilities), and persons with serious physical disabilities (persons with physicaldisabilities designated by the Act on Welfare of Physically Disabled Persons, andwounded and sick retired soldiers with certain disabilities among those designated by
the Act on Special Aid to the Wounded and Sick Retired Soldiers) can cast a ballot by
mail or by other means (absentee balloting by mail or by other means). Based on theprovisions of Article 58 of the Act, persons caring for those with disabilities who are
deemed to be “persons caught in unavoidable circumstances” by ballot administrators
are allowed to enter a polling station together with a voter. Based on the provisions ofArticle 150 of the Act and the provisions of the election broadcast regulations, sign
language interpreters can be used for election broadcasts for elections of proportional
representation seats of the Lower House and prefectural governor elections; sign
language interpreters and closed captions can be used for election broadcasts forelections of proportional representation seats of the Upper House; and sign language
interpreters and closed captions can be used for videos prepared by the political party
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that submitted a nomination of a candidate for single-member district elections for
the Lower House. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), in
collaboration with the Association For Promoting Fair Elections, implements
explanatory activities for elections in which efforts are made to disseminate
information on balloting methods, etc. that can be used by persons with disabilities.
188. Based on the Act on Special Provisions concerning the Voting Method by Means ofElectromagnetic Recording Voting Devices Used for Election of Council Members andHeads of Local Governments, efforts are being made to promote the use of electronic
voting that does not require the elector to write by him/herself, enabling electors who
cannot write by themselves to cast their vote comparatively easily.
189. Article 9 of the Public Offices Election Act guarantees the voting rights of both
persons with and without disabilities. Paragraph 4, Article 46 of the Act prohibits theact of writing the name of an elector on a paper ballot. Article 52 of the Act provides
that an elector is not obliged to state the name, etc. of a person eligible for elective
office, etc. for whom the elector cast a ballot. Article 227 of the Act provides that theact to violate ballot secrecy by means of public authority will be punished. Article 228of the Act provides that the act of interfering in the ballot process will be punished.
Article 10 of the Act guarantees the right of both persons with and without
disabilities to hold office.
190. A provision previously existed to the effect that adult wards had no right to voteand no right to hold office. However, this provision was deleted by the Act on thePartial Amendment of the Public Offices Election Act, etc. for the Recovery, etc. of theRight to Vote of Adult Wards (Law No.21 of 2013), which was enforced in June 2013.
191. With respect to the performance of public duties by persons with disabilities,
Article 27 of the National Public Service Act provides that no citizens should sufferfrom discrimination with regard to the appointment of national public officers, work
conditions, dispositions, etc. Article 13 of the Local Public Service Act provides that no
citizens should suffer from discrimination with regard to the appointment of local
public officers, work conditions, dispositions, etc.
Article 30

Participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport

192. The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that national and local
governments must develop facilities, equipment and other conditions, subsidize
activities relating to culture, art and sports, and take other necessary measures sothat persons with disabilities can satisfy their desire for or be motivated by culture, or
can independently and positively engage in sports or recreation (Article 25 of the54

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Basic Act).
193. Article 22 of the Fundamental Law for the Promotion of Culture and the Arts,
which was enacted in 2001, obligates the national government to establish anenvironment in which persons with disabilities can actively engage in cultural andartistic activities. Based on this article, the national government takes measures toenhance such activities.
194. Responding to the interim report, presented by the “advisory body for promoting
support for art activities by persons with disabilities,” which held meetings in 2013,
since FY2014 the national government conducted a survey to locate art works
produced by persons with disabilities and research to assess the current situation
regarding how such art works were being produced as well as R&D, etc. to advertise
excellent art works to the public. In addition, the national government promotes
activities related to culture and art through creating such environments for children
with disabilities that they can continuously engage in the activities and by helping
organizations that support the cultural and artistic activities of persons withdisabilities.
195. Since FY2001, Countrywide Art/Culture Festivals for Persons with Disabilities
have been held to enrich the lives of persons with disabilities through their
participation in artistic and cultural activities, promote their independence and social
participation, and deepen the public’s understanding and recognition of disabilities.
196. Concerts and exhibitions by persons with disabilities, and stage performances,
exhibitions, etc. which can be enjoyed by them are held across the country. For
persons with disabilities, the National Theatre of Japan and the New National
Theatre, Tokyo offer discounted tickets, and admission to national museums of art
and national museums is free. Theaters, concert halls, art galleries and museums, etc.
in Japan have been improving the environment for persons with disabilities bymaking lavatories and elevators wheel chair friendly. At the same time, there is aneed to address the issues that persons with visual and/or hearing disabilities have
limited access to information, and create better environments for them.
197. Since FY2014, caption production support has been provided to organizations that
intend to produce film captions in Japanese for film works for which a subsidy for thepromotion of culture and the arts was provided so that persons with hearing
disabilities may be given the opportunity to enjoy more films. With respect to the
Copyright Act, legal arrangements are made to enable persons with disabilities toaccess cultural works as the case may be in consideration of the wishes, etc. of persons
with disabilities.
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198. The Basic Act on Sport was enacted in June 2011. Paragraph 5, Article 2 of the Act
stipulates the basic principle that sports must be promoted while giving necessary
consideration to the type and degree of disabilities so that persons with disabilities
may voluntarily and actively engage in sports. The “Sport Basic Plan” established in
March 2012 based on the provisions of the Basic Act on Sport provides that the basic
policy challenge is to create an environment in which many persons, regardless of age,gender, presence or absence of disability, may participate in sports activities inaccordance with their interests, aptitudes, etc.
199. According to the survey conducted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Scienceand Technology (MEXT) (2013), the rate of persons who participated in sports orrecreational activities once a week or more frequently in the last year was 47.5% forgeneral adults but only 18.2% for adults with disabilities. Therefore, it is necessary tofurther promote the participation of such persons in sports activities.
200. Since FY2015, MEXT has been supporting local governments developing
frameworks

forcooperation

betweensports-related

andwelfare-related

officials/citizens to promote integrated sports activities for persons with disabilities in
the community.
MEXT has also decided to provide support for building bases for sports activities for
persons with disabilities at special needs education schools in order to promoteregular sports activities for persons with disabilities, including children withdisabilities.
201. Based on the provisions of the Basic Act on Sport, to ensure the smooth
implementation of the National Para-Sports Festival, a national festival for persons
with disabilities, necessary support is provided to the Japanese Para-Sports
Association as the organizer as well as to governments of prefectures where thefestival is conducted.
202. Based on the provisions of the Basic Act on Sport, the provision of opportunities for
persons with disabilities to participate in sports activities through the implementationof sports classes and events to provide opportunities to experience sports, etc.,
development and training of coaches for sports played by persons with disabilities,
and the dispatch of athletes to international sports meetings such as the Paralympics,
Deaflympics, and Special Olympics, etc. are promoted by means of subsidies to theJapanese Para-Sports Association. For the purpose of training of players, prioritizedsupport is provided to players and sporting organizations that are highly anticipatedto win medals at international sports meetings. The Japanese Para-Sports Association
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purpose of covering expenses necessary for enhancing organizations, implementing
sports meetings organized by the Association, dispatching teams of Japanese players
to international sports meetings, paying cash rewards to medalists in the Paralympics
and developing and training players.
203. Understanding of and interest in all levels of sports activities by persons withdisabilities have increased year after year. Many Japanese players participate ininternational sports meetings. From March to April, 2015, the 18th WinterDeaflympics were held in Khanty-Mansiysk and Magnitogorsk, Russia, and aJapanese delegation of 48 members, including 22 players, participated in the games.
From July to August, 2015, the “Special Olympics World Summer Games Los Angeles”
were held in Los Angeles, U.S.A., and a Japanese delegation of 118 members,
including 77 players, participated in the games. In March 2014, the “Sochi 2014
Paralympic Winter Games” were held in Russia, and a Japanese delegation of 55
members, including 20 players, participated in the games.
204. At the IOC Session held in September 2013, Tokyo was elected as the host city forthe 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. As a result, Tokyo has become the first cityin the world to hold the second Paralympic Summer Games. Paralympic Games inwhich the world’s top-level athletes participate will encourage persons withdisabilities to become independent and participate in social activities through sports
activities, and contribute to increased understanding of diverse disabilities by thegeneral public. Furthermore, the establishment of sports stadiums in which
consideration is given to accessibility and infrastructure improvement will enable all
people, including those with disabilities, to safely and comfortably travel the streets ofTokyo, and promote the realization of Tokyo as a universal design city.
205. The level of competition of recent sports activities by persons with disabilities,
including the Paralympic Games, has increased remarkably. Due to an increase in thenecessity of further promoting measures for sports activities by persons withdisabilities, not only from the viewpoint of welfare but also from the viewpoint ofpromoting sports activities, projects related to sports activities by persons withdisabilities that are conducted from the viewpoint of promoting sports activities werefrom FY2014 transferred from the MHLW to MEXT in order to further promote sports
activities by persons with disabilities.
206. As community life support services based on Article 77 and 78 of the Act onComprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities, the “project for the promotionof recreational activities” has been implemented to establish or improve theenvironment in which persons with disabilities, etc. participate in social activities and57

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provide necessary support for them. In the project, various recreational classes andrecreational sports festivals, etc. are held in order to promote an increase in thephysical strength of persons with disabilities, their relationship with other people,
and their leisure activities through recreational activities, and provide them with
opportunities to participate in sports activities.
207. Article 21 of the Tourism-based Country Promotion Basic Act provides that thenational government must take measures necessary for establishing travel-related
facilities and public facilities that the elderly, persons with disabilities, foreign
nationals and tourists who require special considerations can easily use, and for
improving the convenience of such facilities. Therefore, one-stop information centers
to provide consulting services and responses to inquiries, etc. from the elderly andpersons with disabilities, etc. who encounter difficulties while sightseeing andtraveling are being established, and efforts to enhance the services of such centers arebeing carried out.
(See Article 9 “Accessibility” for the promotion of barrier-free facilities, barrier-freeaccess to information, including regular broadcasts and the dissemination ofclosed-captioned broadcasts, etc.).

Article 31

Statistics and data collection

208. Based on the Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities (IV 3), specific targets forachievement are established and the status of implementation of measures and theireffects are assessed and evaluated based on numerical values, etc. The Cabinet Officecollects basic data concerning persons with disabilities from relevant ministries andagencies, and posts such data on its website (the collection of basic data). In addition,
the Cabinet Office conducts international comparative surveys, opinion polls, andattitude surveys, etc. annually concerning measures for persons with disabilities, andposts their results on its website, etc.
209. The Statistics Act provides a confidentiality obligation, etc. regarding informationcollected in statistical surveys, and such information, including information on
persons with disabilities, is properly protected. Furthermore, the Statistics Act
provides fundamental principles based on the “Fundamental Principles of Official
Statistics” that were adopted by the United Nations, and ethical principles forcollecting and using statistics are complied with. Official statistics, including location
data are properly publicized through the Internet or using other methods.
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administrative organs of the national government is properly handled based on the
Act on the Protection of Personal Information Held by Administrative Organs. Any
acts in violation of the provisions of the Act will be punished. The Act substantiates
the OECD’s Eight Principles, which are the international standards concerning theprotection of personal information, and thus, the Act complies with internationallyaccepted rules.
Article 100 of the National Public Service Act provides that national public officers
shall not disclose information that they come to know during the performance of theirduties.
211. With respect to this article, the Policy Commission has provided the following

observation (See the Appendix for details).
Statistics of both national and local governments that can be used for monitoringand evaluating their measures regarding persons with disabilities are insufficient.
Therefore, surveys covering the entire population of Japan and gender-based surveys
need to be implemented.
(SeeⅠ“The process leading to the Conclusion of the Convention and Where we stand”
for the statistical data)
Article 32

International cooperation

212. The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that the national governmentis to endeavor to exchange information with foreign governments, internationalorganizations, and other relevant bodies, and take other necessary measures in orderto promote measures to support the independence and social participation of persons
with disabilities under a framework of international cooperation (Article 30 of the
Basic Act).
213. Based on the Development Cooperation Charter, Japan provides assistance topersons with disabilities in developing countries and cooperation in which
consideration is given to persons with disabilities from the viewpoint of promoting
human security. Assistance mainly consists of loan, grant aid and technicalcooperation. As for development carried out with Japanese ODA loan, barrier-freedesigns are adopted in the construction of railways, airports, etc. in order to extend
cooperation framework in which consideration is given for the use of such facilities by
persons with disabilities. As for grant aid, cooperation in which consideration is given
to use by persons with disabilities is provided, and rehabilitation facilities, vocational
training facilities, among others, for persons with disabilities are constructed.
Furthermore, Japan provides Grant Assistance for Japanese NGO Projects in which
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ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSIONJapanese NGOs provide assistance to persons with disabilities (such as support tochildren with disabilities when they attend schools, vocational training, and provisionof wheelchairs.) As for technical cooperation, in order to promote social participation
by persons with disabilities and to help realize their rights in developing countries,
through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), measures for persons
with disabilities are provided, and their participation in the development process isalso supported, by means such as dispatch of persons with disabilities as experts and
JICA volunteers to developing countries.
214. Furthermore, as cooperation to the Asia-Pacific region, Japan has provided various
forms of assistance to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asiaand the Pacific (ESCAP) through the Japan-ESCAP Cooperation Fund (JECF).
Article 33

National implementation and monitoring

215. The Japanese Government has designated the Director for Policy for Persons with
Disabilities in the Office of the Director General for Policy on Cohesive Society,Cabinet Office and the Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Division, Foreign
Policy Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the focal points. The Director for Policy
for Persons with Disabilities in the Office of the Director General for Policy on
Cohesive Society, Cabinet Office will be designated as the coordination mechanismwith the government.
216. With respect to the framework for promoting the implementation of theConvention, to help the general public increase their interest in and understanding of
persons with disabilities, and the challenges they face, as well as to encourage
persons with disabilities to engage more in social activities, one week from December
3 to 9 of every year has since 1995 been designated as the “Week of Persons with
Disabilities.” Public and private sectors have been actively implementing a variety ofevents across the country as a part of awareness campaigns and publicity activities
during, before and after this week.
217. As the administrative organ for the promotion and protection of human rights, the
Human Rights Bureau is established in the MOJ. As subordinate agencies thereof,
the Human Rights Department of the Legal Affairs Bureaus (eight bureaus in total
across the country), the Human Rights Division of the District Legal Affairs Bureaus(42 bureaus in total across the country) and their branches (263 branches in total
across the country as of April 1, 2015) have been established. In Japan, approximately
14,000 human rights volunteers (commissioned private citizens appointed by the
Minister of Justice) conduct human rights promotion and protection activities of60

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human rights in cooperation with MOJ’s Human Rights Bureau, Legal Affairs
Bureaus and District Legal Affairs Bureaus. MOJ’s Human Rights Bureau, Human
Rights Department of Legal Affairs Bureaus, Human Rights Division of District Legal
Affairs Bureaus, their branches, and human rights volunteers are collectively
referred to as the “human rights bodies of MOJ.”
218. The human rights bodies of MOJ implement various awareness-raising activities
based on the “Basic Plan for Promotion of Human Rights Education andEncouragement” established based on the provisions of Article 7 of the Human Rights
Education and Enlightenment Promotion Act. Specifically, the human rights bodies of
MOJ hold lectures and round-table talks, distribute leaflets,and conduct activities

at various events under the slogan of “Promote the Independence and Participation inSociety of People with Disabilities” as one of the priority targets of activities forhuman rights awareness-raising.
219. Article 6 of the Human Rights Education and Enlightenment Promotion Act clearlyprovides that the general public must cultivate respect for human rights andcontribute to the creation of a society in which human rights are respected. The“Basic Plan for Promotion of Human Rights Education and Encouragement”
established based on Article 7 of the Human Rights Education and Enlightenment
Promotion Act specifies: that local governments, public-interest corporations, private
associations, and companies, etc. will play a large role in promoting human rights
education and awareness campaigns; that the foregoing organizations, etc. are
expected to promote voluntary activities in line with the objective of the Basic Plan in
their own fields and standpoints, in organic coordination with each other if necessary;and that the Basic Plan must be implemented in consideration of the activities or
opinions of the foregoing organizations, etc.
220. With respect to the framework for protecting the implementation of the Convention,
the human rights bodies of MOJ provide counseling services at nationwide Legal
Affairs Bureaus and the District Legal Affairs Bureaus concerning all forms of humanrights issues, including those related to persons with disabilities. If they recognize acase suspected of human rights violation, they conduct necessary investigations as ahuman rights violation case, and take appropriate measures, in collaboration andcooperation with related organizations (subparagraphs 26 and 29, Article 4 of the Act
for Establishment of the Ministry of Justice; Article 11 of the Human Rights
Volunteers Act; and the Regulation on Investigation and Resolution of Human Rights
Violation Cases (Instructions of the Minister of Justice)). The number of human rights
counseling services concerning violence toward and abuse of persons with disabilities,
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human rights violation at social welfare facilities, discriminative treatment andcoercion/obtrusion in 2014 was 2,818. The number of human rights violation cases
totaled 448.
221.With respect to the overall framework for promoting, protecting and monitoring theimplementation of the Convention, the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities
provides that the “Policy Commission,” an advisory body not exceeding 30 members
who are appointed from among persons with disabilities, persons engaged in business
related to the independence and social participation of persons with disabilities aswell as persons with relevant academic background and experience (Articles 32 and33 of the Basic Act). The Act provides that with regard to the configuration of themembers, the Policy Commission must consider making it possible to carry out
studies and deliberations that take into account the various opinions of persons withdisabilities and their actual situation (paragraph 2, Article 33 of the Basic Act). At
present, a majority of the members of the Policy Commission are appointed fromamong persons with disabilities or representatives of their families. The Act further
provides that the Policy Commission can state opinions concerning the establishment
or change of the “Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities,” investigate anddeliberate on the Basic Program and monitor the status of implementation, and if
necessary, state its opinions to the Prime Minister (paragraphs 4 and 9 of Article 11,
and paragraph 2 of Article 32, of the Basic Act). The Policy Commission functions as
the monitoring framework specified in Article 33 of the Convention. The monitoring of
the implementation of the Convention is conducted as follows: the Policy Commission
monitors whether the “Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities,” which forms thefoundational body of policies on measures for persons with disabilities, isimplemented in accordance with the objective of the Convention. The Policy
Commission has monitored the status of implementation of the “Basic Program for
Persons with Disabilities (Third)” since May 2015 in order to submit this Report, anddocumented the results of such monitoring in September 2015 (See the Appendix).
222.The Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities provides that prefectural and municipal
governments must establish a body with a council system to study and deliberate thecomprehensive and planned promotion of their measures for persons with disabilities
and monitor the state of implementation of such measures (in the case of municipal
governments, they “may establish” a body with a council system), and that withregard to the configuration of the members of the body, consideration must be given to
make it possible to carry out studies and deliberations that take into account thevarious opinions of persons with disabilities and the actual situation regarding
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persons with disabilities (Article 36 of the Basic Act).

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Summary of Discussions
Challenges Based on the Status of Implementation of
the Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities (Third)

September 2015
Commission on Policy for Persons with Disabilities

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Monitoring of the Status of Implementation of the Basic Program for Persons
with Disabilities (Third)
September 2015
Commission on Policy for Persons with Disabilities
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (hereinafter the “CRPD”) was
ratified by the Japanese Government in January 2014, and took effect in February 2014.
Within two years after ratification of the CRPD, the States Parties are required to submit areport on the status of implementation of the CRPD to the United Nations Committee on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities. When preparing the government report, the Japanese
Government is required to collect the views of the Commission on Policy for Persons with
Disabilities (hereinafter the “Policy Commission”), which monitors the status of
implementation of the Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities, and reflects them in thegovernment report. The Policy Commission has therefore monitored the Status of
Implementation of the Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities (Third) to enable theJapanese Government to submit the government report under the CRPD.
Before conducting the monitoring, the Policy Commission invited Ron McCallum,
Professor Emeritus, University of Sydney, who has worked as the former chairperson of theUnited Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to deliver a lecture on
the viewpoints of examination of governmental reports by the UN Committee on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities, as well as on the constructive dialogue that took place between
the UN Committee and the States Parties. The Policy Commission then exchanged opinionswith Mr. McCallum so that all members of the Policy Commission would share a unified
mindset with regard to the monitoring.
Basically, information on the current status of implementation of the Basic Program for
Persons with Disabilities (Third) was collected from relevant ministries and agencies, anddiscussions were undertaken with regard to the monitoring work.
In particular, the following four themes were considered as important theme for themonitoring: “support for decision making, etc., including adult guardianship system”;“support for the hospital-to-community transition of persons with mental disabilities, persons
with severe disabilities, etc. in need of medical care”; “the inclusive education system,
employment, etc.”; and “information accessibility.” The Policy Commission therefore decided
to separately hold four working sessions to discuss each theme in parallel with discussions
at Policy Commission meetings.
Three or four members of the Policy Commission worked as coordinators for eachworking session. These coordinators gained the participation of persons with detailed
knowledge of each theme, including persons with disabilities, representatives of relatedorganizations and experts [in the field]. The coordinators then collected opinions from theparticipants while engaging in detailed discussions during the working sessions.
At the Policy Commission meetings, discussions were held concerning cross-sectional
themes such as “women with disabilities” and “statistics concerning persons withdisabilities.” In particular, all members of the Policy Commission held detailed discussions
concerning “support for the hospital-to-community transition of persons with mental
disabilities” and “the inclusive education system,” which had been discussed during theworking sessions.

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Since May 2015, the Policy Commission conducted 13-time-discussion in total—eighttimes over the four working sessions, and concurrency five times (on all themes) based on
the results of the working session discussions. Subsequently, the Policy Commission
compiled a “Summary of Discussions ―Challenges Based on the Status of Implementationof the Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities (Third).” In the summary of the
discussions, opinions presented from relevant ministries and agencies were also included inaddition to opinions presented from members of the Policy Commission.
This year is an intermediate year of the Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities(Third). Therefore, the Policy Commission expects that respective ministries and agencies
will implement related measures of the Basic Program in full consideration of the “summaryof discussions” during the remainder of its implementation period.

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Table of Contents

III

Basic Trends in Measures by Field .............................................................................................. 1
1. Support for daily life ...................................................................................................................1
2. Health care and medical treatment ..............................................................................................4
3. Education, cultural and art activities, sports, etc. ........................................................................8
4. Support for employment and economic independence [WS III]...............................................12
5. Living environment ................................................................................................................... 13
6. Accessibility to information [WS IV] .......................................................................................14
7. Safety and security .................................................................................................................... 17
8. Eliminating discrimination and promoting advocacy ............................................................... 18
9. Accommodation in administrative services, etc........................................................................19IV

System for Promotion ............................................................................................................... 20(Appendix 1)

Statistics Concerning Persons with Disabilities ....................................................... 21(Appendix 2)

Women with Disabilities .......................................................................................... 22*

The “Status of Implementation of the Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities (Third)” is
not attached hereto

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III Basic Trends in Measures by Field
1. Support for daily life
(1) Support for decision making, etc., including adult guardianship [WS I][Discussions] Adult guardianship system violates the CRPD?
1)

The CRPD denies substitute decision-making. Therefore, adult guardianship system, including
the right to rescind, which is a protective vicarious framework, may violate the CRPD.

2)

Decision making involves a variety of issues, ranging from simple to sophisticated/legal. For
matters that cannot be understood, decisions cannot be made. When decision making isnecessary for any important matter that causes irrevocable disadvantage to a person concerned,
protection of his/her rights under adult guardianship system is necessary. Therefore, adultguardianship system in fact does not violate the CRPD.

(Ministry of Justice (MOJ))
The MOJ understands that Japan’s adult guardianship system does not violate the CRPD. Under
the Civil Code, a guardian must respect the will of the person concerned (the adult ward) andconsider his/her mental and physical condition and living circumstances (Article 858 of the Civil
Code). Furthermore, the Civil Code provides various measures to protect the interest of the person
concerned, thereby respecting the rights, will and preferences of the person concerned (Article 12,
paragraph 4 of the CRPD). If surrogate authority is not granted to guardians without exception, evenwhen decision making by the person concerned is practically impossible (for example, he/she suffersfrom serious dementia, etc.), the person concerned cannot in effect conduct any legal acts, andtherefore would not be protected at all.
[Discussions] The adult guardianship system itself has limitations?
1)

Even if it is difficult to confirm the will of the person concerned and substitute decision-making
is conducted by necessity, adult guardianship should be considered to be limited and used as alast resort, and operation of the system, including support for decision making, should be
improved.

2)

The reality is that a legal professional can abruptly be appointed as an adult guardian but cannot
provide support for decision making. It is therefore necessary to develop a system in which an
adult guardian is not left alone to provide support by himself/herself; rather, family members
and affiliates who are familiar with the everyday life of the person concerned and/or
decision-making supporters, including welfare professionals, gather around the person
concerned on a continuous basis in order to consult and coordinate with each other.

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3)

It is difficult to confirm the will of the person concerned and make decisions that reflect his/her
will. Although it is a medium- or long-term challenge, I believe that it is necessary toaccumulate model cases initially and promote support for decision making.

4)

The precondition for using adult guardianship system is that the person concerned has nocapacity for judgment. Although the obligation to consider his/her mental and physicalcondition and living circumstances is imposed, it is not clear how the will of the person can berespected. Therefore, one urgent challenge is to hold discussions on this issue. I believe that therelationship between the current adult guardianship system and the CRPD can be discussed
only after research and verification of the current adult guardianship system is carried out
repeatedly.

[Discussions] The burden on family courts is heavy?
1)Isn’t it too burdensome for family courts to conduct supervisory activities in addition to theirprimary activities? In many overseas countries, administrative organizations conduct
supervisory activities. It would be realistic for Japan to establish a measure to be implemented
over a medium- or long-term period under which organizations with knowledge of support for
decision making support corporate guardians and/or adult guardians, etc.

2)

I believe that guidelines or suchlike pertaining to support for decision making (dealing withthree areas: daily life, life planning, and when life is threatened) could be established in linewith the intentions of the person concerned. I also believe that even if conflict occurs among
related parties in connection with support for decision making, such conflict could be resolved
by organizations in charge of coordination and judgment, if such organizations were
established.

3)

It may be possible to share the burden of providing support for decision-making by taking thefollowing approach. That is, by increasing support provided by municipal governments foron-site decision making, and waiting until the final stages of decision-making before family
courts perform their functions and roles.

(2) Support for the hospital-to-community transition of persons with severe
disabilities, etc. in need of medical care [WS II][Discussions] Living in communities should be possible in all cases?
1)

I hope that 24-hour medical care and nursing care would be guaranteed for all persons withsevere disabilities so that they can live in a manner befitting human dignity, irrespective of
which communities they live in.

2)

Housing support in communities such as group homes is highly evaluated. However, the current
level of compensation is too low for caregivers to provide medical care, including sputum
suction, to persons in need of such care.

3)

General consultation desks, which respond to inquiries about medical care and welfare
depending on the patient’s condition and the change in living conditions, and about related
measures for patients with progressive intractable diseases, should be established incommunities.

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ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION[Discussions] How should children in need of medical care be supported?
1)

Constant nursing care must be provided to children in need of medical care. However, as somemunicipalities have very strict rules about the provision of welfare services, parents of suchchildren who cannot fully avail of those services are left to bear an excessive nursing careburden.

2)

Medical type facilities for children with disabilities provide medical care (24 hours, 365 days),
but only inside the facilities themselves. Considering their child’s welfare, parents of children inneed of medical care find it difficult to send their children to such and must bear the burden of
medical care themselves.

3)

The condition under which recuperation can be used is a degree of disability amounting to fiveor more. Therefore, children with progressive intractable diseases can use medical typefacilities, but may not be able to utilize care for daily life.

4)

According to a survey, 70% or more of parents are required by schools to attend to theirchildren while at school. Almost all of the parents attending to their children at school also
provide medical care to them. It is my wish that training costs will be subsidized and a subsidy
should be provided for the establishment of a medical care implementation system so thatvarious procedures, including sputum suction, may be utilized to the maximum extent possible
and medical care can be provided at childcare and education facilities.

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2.

Health care and medical treatment(1) Support for the hospital-to-community transition of persons with mental
disorders [WS II][Discussions] Systems, including the Act on Mental Health and Welfare for the
persons with Mental Disorders (hereinafter the “Mental Health and Welfare Act”), andtheir operations, should be improved?
1)

It is necessary to re-examine the adequacy of Article 33 of the Mental Health and Welfare Act,
which sets out the provisions concerning involuntary hospitalization for medical care andprotection.

2)

In the case of involuntary hospitalization for medical care and protection, citizens exert powerover other citizens. It is difficult to obtain the international community’s understanding of thepractice.

3)

Some people say that the increased number of cases of involuntary hospitalization for medicalcare and protection suggests a tendency to take the will of the persons concerned into accountless. On the other hand, others say that it is premature to conclude that the will of the persons
concerned is disregarded and their rights are infringed upon in many cases in consideration of
the fact that the number of days of hospitalization has become shorter and the frequency of
hospitalization has increased under the concept that emergency intervention is necessary when
symptoms worsen. Therefore, this matter must be re-examined.

4)

The special provision of the Medical Service Act provides that one psychiatrist must be
allocated for every 48 beds. However, I believe that an appropriate number of psychiatrists
should be allocated in consideration of the type/extent of psychiatric care required.

5)

Under the designated psychiatrist system, applications for improving treatment, etc. may besubmitted to the Mental Health Review Board. Under the system, however, the right to restrict
the acts of hospitalized patients is concentrated on only one designated psychiatrist.

6)

It is absolutely necessary to ensure that defenders of patients’ rights are independent fromfamily members or medical care professionals involved in such treatment to protect the rights ofpatients in psychiatric wards.

7)

The results of examinations made by the Mental Health Review Board are as follows: thenumber of cases for which the Board determined “it is appropriate to transfer the patientconcerned to another type of institution” or “continued hospitalization is no longer necessary,”
numbered nine out of all 260,000 applications; and the ratio of cases for which the Board
determined “continued hospitalization is no longer necessary” was 5.8% for all 308 applications
for treatment improvement. Although some people say that the designated psychiatrist has madethe correct judgment, I believe that the number or the ratio of applications accepted is too small.
The results of examinations may indicate that the Board has not fully performed their
examination function. This matter should be re-examined.

8)

Article 10, subparagraph 3, of the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Medical Service Act
provides that patients with mental illness shouldn’t be hospitalized in medical wards other thanpsychiatric wards. Even now, some medical care professionals of other departments refuse totreat patients with mental illness, although this practice is beginning to decrease.

9)

In the case of dementia, the actual conditions of social hospitalization for psychiatric medical
treatment are accepted. However, such conditions should be improved.

10) In the past, many psychiatric hospitals may have accepted long term social hospitalization. At
present, however, they have changed their manner of treatment based an examination of former
treatment methods. It is necessary to conduct surveys, including the “Report on the Results ofSurvey of Use of Psychiatric Beds,” on a continuous basis, and discussions should be carried

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out based on the latest accurate statistics.

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ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION(Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW))
Involuntary hospitalization for medical care and protection is carried out when a person isdiagnosed by a designated psychiatrist as having a mental disability that requires hospitalization for
medical care and protection, but the same person is not able to make an appropriate judgment on thenecessity of hospitalization due to his/her mental disorder. When involuntary hospitalization for
medical care and protection is to be carried out, the hospital is obligated to inform the person
concerned in writing of the medical examination by the designated psychiatrist and thehospitalization order. The hospitalization procedures are rigorously designed from the viewpoint of
the protection of human rights. Furthermore, a framework is in place under which theappropriateness of hospitalization is examined by the Mental Health Review Board.
When involuntary hospitalization for medical care and protection is to be carried out, a medical
examination by the designated psychiatrist as well as the consent of the patient’s family, etc. are
required. The foregoing was determined by comprehensively considering the following. Due to thefact that it is necessary to protect the rights of persons with mental disorders, and also because
increased importance is being placed on informed consent, a procedure that offers sufficient
explanations to family members, etc. living together with the person concerned and that secures
agreement regarding hospitalization is desirable. After revision of the related law, the patient’s
family, etc. is allowed to file an application for discharge from the hospital.
As for community life support services, the MHLW will make efforts to enhance medicalcare/welfare services in communities based on the direction indicated in the report compiled by the“advisory board for detailed measures toward the hospital-to-community transition of long-stayinpatients with mental disorders.”[Discussions] How should local infrastructure in communities be enhanced?
1)

When persons with mental disorders live in communities, social support for their families isinsufficient.

2)

The CRPD requires that measures by which persons with mental disorders need not be
hospitalized be taken from the viewpoint of guaranteeing their right to live in communities.
Therefore, it is important to facilitate the hospital-to-community transition of persons who are
long-stay inpatients and develop resources to enable those with mental disorders to live incommunities.

3)

Psychiatric care itself needs to be expanded to communities. It is necessary to increase
expenditure on community care and the number of personnel, and to create “mobile teams” whovisit persons with mental disorders living in communities and provide welfare and medical careservices to them.

4)

The number of business operators who have withdrawn from providing support for thetransition to community life has increased due to unprofitability of the business as a result of
low compensation. Therefore, it is my hope that the reasons why the number of service users issmall should be analyzed once again and a budget for compensation suitable for addressing theparticular features of mental disorders should be arranged.

5)

I strongly hope that professionals will support persons with mental disorders in community life.

6)

Persons with mental disorders find it extremely difficult to settle in private-sector housing.

7)

Hospital-to-community transition cannot be achieved if the physical space or equipment is
simply moved from the hospital room to the dwelling facility. Once psychiatric wards have losttheir social role, they should be closed, and shouldn’t be used for segregating or
accommodating people for different purposes.

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ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION(MHLW)
When persons with mental disorders who have been hospitalized for a long time are discharged,
their transition must, in principle, be made directly to community life (their home, private apartment,
or group home). Group homes on the premises of mental hospitals are permitted on a trial basis, tobe established as a transitional place of residence for those who feel uneasy about directlytransitioning to communities, even if support is provided for their discharge from hospitals. The
conditions for establishing and operating such group homes include the following: that persons use
them voluntarily even when third parties are involved; that such group homes are physicallyindependent from hospitals; and that the period of use should be two years or less in principle.

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3. Education, cultural and art activities, sports, etc.
(1) The inclusive education system [WS III]
[Discussions] How is inclusive education progressing?
1)

Discussions should be held about the goal of inclusive education, the indicators for monitoring
its progress and how to promote it while taking the foregoing factors into account.

2)

The following data will be helpful for discussing progress: Data collected from nurseries,
elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools, as well as those collected separatelyfrom special needs education schools or classes for special needs education. If possible, thosedata categorized by type of disability will be beneficial. Descriptions concerning the actual
conditions of interaction between students attending special needs education schools or classes
for special needs education and students without disabilities will be also helpful. As
individualized education support plans and individualized teaching plans serving as qualitative
data are important, I recommend that these data should be analyzed, including the evaluation byindividuals with disabilities themselves who used them.

3)

To prevent individualized education support plans from being “pie in the sky,” the wholeprocess, from preparation to utilization, should be visualized.

4)

Plans to use assistance for facility admission and plans to use services are required to be madeby closely coordinating consultation support for disabled children and individualized education
support plans.

5)

As for liaison councils for special needs education, it is necessary to investigate the actual
conditions of how they are established and analyze how their functions are performed.

6)

When making reports on the progress of inclusive education, attention should be paid to the factthat children with various kinds of disabilities jointly receive education and how theirrespective needs can be satisfied.

7)

When making reports on the progress of inclusive education, the viewpoint of whether or not
children have any disability is important. In addition, attention should be paid to the kinds ofdifficulties children with disabilities face with regard to learning and attendance at schools andwhat kind of support schools provide.

8)

Distributing education support materials to schools across the country was effective fordeepening the understanding of school attendance.

9)

As for reasonable accommodation, it is necessary to enumerate both positive and negative
examples and analyze them so that anybody can understand the meaning of reasonableaccommodation.

10) During entrance examinations at high schools, children with disabilities are excluded due to thecurrent system of checking certificates of disabilities and school reports, etc. This is a problem
that prevents the realization of inclusive education.
(Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT))As provided in the CRPD and the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities, inclusive education isunderstood to mean education in which consideration should be given such that children withdisabilities as well as those without disabilities can jointly receive education as far as possible underthe education philosophy of enabling children with disabilities to develop their capabilities, etc. tothe maximum extent and effectively participate in a free society.
Among others, the report from the Central Council for Education, Elementary and Junior HighSchool Education Committee, which was publicized in July 2012, makes recommendations to theeffect that: it is important to establish a flexible, diversified framework that can provide the mostsuitable instruction for meeting educational needs at a given time, with the goal of promoting

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independence and social participation; it is important to provide continuous, diverse places oflearning (regular classes, special support service in resource rooms, classes for special needs
education, schools for special needs education) in place.

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ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION[Discussions] Is the will of the person concerned and his/her parents respected?
1)With regard to respect for the will of the person concerned and his/her parents, the ideal
situation would be reflected by related data showing that the acceptance ratio of children
concerned by elementary and junior high schools in communities is steadily improving.

2)

Special needs education assistants are actively allocated to children with developmental
disabilities, but the same is not true for children with intellectual disabilities. This fact runs
contrary to the concept of striving to make it possible for children with disabilities to jointly
receive the necessary support and education in the same place as children without disabilities. I
fear that the number of children with disabilities who seek specific support to attend schools for
special needs education will increase contrary to the concept of the inclusive education. I
believe it is necessary to consider the best balance for budget allocation among other factors,
and establish a framework in which children with disabilities and their parents who wish to
apply to schools in their local communities will be accepted as far as possible.

(MEXT)As provided in the CRPD and the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities, inclusive education isunderstood to mean education in which consideration should be given such that children withdisabilities as well as those without disabilities can jointly receive education as far as possible underthe education philosophy of enabling children with disabilities to develop their capabilities, etc. tothe maximum extent and effectively participate in a free society.
Among others, the report from the Central Council for Education, Elementary and Junior HighSchool Education Committee, which was publicized in July 2012, makes recommendations to theeffect that: it is important to establish a flexible, diversified framework that can provide the mostsuitable instruction for meeting educational needs at a given time, with the goal of promoting
independence and social participation; it is important to provide continuous, diverse places oflearning (regular classes, special support service in resource rooms, classes for special needs
education, schools for special needs education) in place.
Depending on the actual conditions of children with disabilities in need of support, each local
government allocates special needs education assistants to each school to support children withdisabilities in their daily life and learning activities. Children with intellectual disabilities are notexcluded from such programs whatsoever.

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ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION[Discussions] Is improvement of the environment promoted?
1)

Establishment of the education consulting and support system from an early stage, enhancementof the function of schools as information centers for special needs education, and an increase in
the quorum of teachers as well as improvement in the allocation and number of special needs
education assistants is highly appreciated. However, further improvement in the quorum ofteachers is still needed, and the number of classrooms remains insufficient.

2)

The allocation of special needs education assistants is financed by the general account budget,
including tax allocation grants, by boards of education. However, the cost should be financed
by a government subsidy from MEXT.

3)

I hope that the provision of text books meeting educational needs, including digital and audio
text books, etc. for children and persons with developmental disabilities will be further
increased.

(MEXT)
Expenses for allocating special needs education assistants are paid to local governments as alocal grant tax depending on the actual conditions of local communities. The amount of said
expenses has been increased year after year depending on the actual situation regarding theallocation of such assistants by local governments.
(2) Culture and sports
1)

Efforts being made to improve the current situation in which the sports participation rate ofpersons with disabilities is lower than that of persons without disabilities are appreciated.

2)

Some persons with disabilities aim at becoming No.1 in the world, while others simply wish to
exercise in the neighborhood approximately once a week. Therefore, if the general term “sports
for persons with disabilities” is used, diverse needs are difficult to identify.

3)

Various challenges remain in regard to the promotion of cultural activities, etc. of deafblind
persons.

4)

As for barrier-free films, various ministries and agencies should cooperate on initiatives such as
closed captions and audio guidance.

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ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION

4. Support for employment and economic independence[WS III][Discussions] How should the legal employment quota be achieved?
1)

The employment of persons with disabilities by prefectural boards of education as supervisory
authorities over teachers and schools is helpful for promoting measures related to the educationof persons with disabilities. Therefore, prefectural boards of education are required to achieve
their legal employment quotas.

2)

I hope that companies that fail to promote employment are encouraged to understand thecurrent conditions regarding persons with disabilities.

3)

Not only job assistance to persons with disabilities but also support to companies will benecessary. It is highly appreciated that the Japan Organization for Employment of the Elderly,
Persons with Disabilities and Job Seekers has already provided various kinds of support.
However, the organization is required to provide information on support and review the type of
support it provides as the case may be.

4)

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have already received various types of support aswell as new subsidies. However, this support, etc. needs to be enhanced further. I hope that
employment measures will be further promoted through the publishing of figures concerning
the status of implementation of the Consultation and Enlightenment Service of Employment of
Persons with Disabilities.

5)

In the future, persons with diverse disabilities, including developmental disabilities andintractable diseases, may seek to avail of consultation services. Therefore, I hope that thetraining of Hello Work staff will be enhanced on a continuous basis and that support for job
retention after employment will be promoted.

6)

Support to persons with acquired disabilities tends to be insufficient. I want companies tounderstand the necessity of facilitating return to the workplace by allowing persons withacquired disabilities a specific period of time for rehabilitation. One challenge is how to ask
companies to deal with the return to work program based on the same program for government
officials with acquired disabilities.

7)

As on-the-job training and capacity development contribute to the expansion of occupational
fields for persons with disabilities, I hope that such training, etc. will be fully promoted.

8)

Before enforcement of the revised Act for Employment Promotion etc. of Persons withdisabilities, it is important to inform persons with disabilities and companies of the objective of
the revision and provide them with information on the “Guidelines on Prohibition ofDiscrimination against Persons with Disabilities” and the “Guidelines on Reasonable
Accommodation,” which were published in March 2015. Companies are required toconsistently comply with these guidelines.

[Discussions] How should special subsidiary companies be treated?
1)

I hope that personnel interchange between parent companies and their special subsidiarycompanies will be promoted; special subsidiary companies should provide know-how regarding
the employment of persons with disabilities that they have built up; and parent companies
should utilize this know-how to expand the employment opportunities of persons withdisabilities.

2)

If persons with acquired disabilities are loaned out to special subsidiary companies without
their consent, such cases will be regarded as a problem from the viewpoint of inclusiveness.

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ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION

5. Living environment1) Persons with mental disabilities find it extremely difficult to take up residence in private houses.
(reiterated)
2)

Under the Barrier-Free Law, the living environment for persons with disabilities is improved,
but the number of facilities, buildings, etc. covered by the act is extremely small.

3)

It is important to investigate the barrier-free status of facilities, etc. not covered by the Act on
Promotion of Smooth Transportation, etc. of Elderly Persons, Disabled Persons (hereinafter the“Barrier-Free Law”).

4)

I believe that the barrier-free target figures are low.

5)

Although the number of welfare taxis is reported to have increased, this seems inaccurate. Thismay be because the standard of most existing welfare taxis is different from the standard
expected by persons with disabilities. Therefore, it is necessary to reexamine the universal
design standard.

6)

In the case of improving barrier-free software, new systems tend to be created by introducing
new technologies without considering usability by persons with disabilities, which may result inproblems.

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ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION

6. Accessibility to information [WS IV][Discussions] The provision of information should be enhanced?
1)

The use of sign language and audio descriptions has not become common in broadcast media.

2)

Some election broadcasts don’t offer closed captions or sign language services. The live
broadcasts of the Diet deliberations offer neither closed captions nor sign language services.

3)

The displays in buses, trains, athletic fields, and other facilities other than stations are
insufficient and are not used. Therefore, it is necessary to examine future policy.

4)

Accessibility to information by persons with disabilities in broadcast media has improved;
however, information accessibility in cases of emergency has not significantly improved.

5)

During emergencies, information must be accurate, but the timely receipt of information may
be more important than its accuracy in some situations.

6)

At present, no standards exist for providing closed captions to various video materials,
including videos on the Internet.

7)

It is necessary to appoint persons with disabilities or their representatives to the panel that is
authorized to determine information-related standards. The panel should be authorized to
examine standards across ministries and agencies.

(Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC))
The MIC has taken measures, including the establishment of goals, the publication of actual
results and the subsidization of production costs, etc. to help disseminate the use of sign language
and audio descriptions in broadcasts.
Sign language interpretation is available for election broadcasts for the election of proportional
representation seats of the House of Representatives and for prefectural governor elections. Sign
language interpretation and closed captions can be available for election broadcasts for the electionof proportional representation seats of the House of Councilors. For single member election for theHouse of Representatives, sign language interpretation or closed captions may be used in videos
prepared by the political party that nominates a candidate. In some elections, sign language
interpretation is not used. Since sign language interpreters are not evenly distributed in all regions,
one challenge is how to secure them. In the case of closed captions, captions must be recorded in alimited period of time. Therefore, the challenge is how to arrange such captions in a limited periodof time.
It is also challenging to provide closed captions and sign language interpretation for live
broadcasts of Diet sessions due to the importance of the deliberations that take place. We have been
informed that it is difficult to provide closed captions etc. at present due to the need for accuracy andfairness in such live broadcasts. However, the MIC will continue to ask the broadcasters concernedto resolve such challenges through promotion of technological development, etc.

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ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION[Discussions] Communication support should be enhanced?
1)

I hope that examinations will always be carried out while considering the care of persons withsevere and multiple disabilities and patients with serious intractable diseases who utilize highly
specific communication methods.

2)

I hope that measures will be taken to improve information accessibility for hearing-impaired
persons who have no Physical Disability Certificate.

3)

Some local governments restrict the scope of persons who can use services as well as the
purpose of use. They have not fully examined the kind of communication support that is needed
at locations where persons from multiple prefectures and municipalities participate.

4)

I hope that businesses that dispatch interpreters and assistants for deaf-blind persons will beestablished in all regions. Since support is necessary for various areas, including places of
employment, education and daily living, cross-ministerial measures should be taken.

5)

To ensure that persons with disabilities can avail of information and communication
technologies, it is important to enhance measures for supporting the use of such technologies by
persons with disabilities and develop personnel to support such uses.

[Discussions] How should accessibility to textbooks be improved?
1)

It is necessary to accurately assess information support needs, ensure the accessibility of
persons with disabilities to textbooks, supplemental materials, exam questions, answer sheets,
teachers’ oral instructions, etc., and ensure, in principle, that the above information support
services are available as part of the normal curriculum.

2)

Differences between MEXT’s approaches to further publicize and promote standard typeenlarged textbooks and those for other enlarged textbooks and multimedia texts exist. For thelatter, it is insufficient for MEXT to only indirectly support volunteers.

3)

To enable educational institutions’ access to various types of materials, an institutionalframework in which schools etc. can obtain the original data necessary to convert books into
digital or Braille form from textbook publishers is necessary.

(MEXT)
As for audio texts, MEXT has been subsidizing their production costs and system operation
costs for Internet delivery since FY2014. At present, if an application is filed with the voluntarygroup producing such texts, any student may receive them free of charge.
To further publicize and promote the use of audio texts in the future, MEXT has beenorganizing and operating meetings for interested persons from schools and boards of education ineach of five blocks (Sendai, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka).

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ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION[Discussions] Is administrative information more barrier-free than before?
1)

The provision of Web accessibility assistance tools doesn’t guarantee the accessibility of
individual administrative information. What is required for this measure is to makeadministrative information itself more accessible.

2)

I hope that government ministries and agencies and local governments will clarify how Web
accessibility policies are established, what tests are conducted, and what they set out to achieve.

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ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION

7. Safety and security
1)

As for evacuation centers, consideration should be given for evacuees from the viewpoint of
women with disabilities.

2)

Methods for assisting persons with mental disabilities in seeking refuge at a time of disastershould be carefully considered.

3)

After the Great East Japan Earthquake, a scheme to assess the extent of the influence of
prolonged evacuation and the type of responses that should be taken was not formulated. It is
understood that in particular, persons with developmental disabilities, intellectual disabilities
and children in vulnerable situations tend to develop PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
Therefore, it is important to thoroughly understand the fact that there are persons in need ofvarious forms of support.

4)

It is necessary to investigate the actual situation concerning participation by persons withdisabilities in the planning and implementation of recovery programs.

5)

Since drugs for persons with rare diseases and patients with intractable diseases cannot be
procured easily in all regions, we have devised diverse ways of storing such stockpiling suchdrugs for use in an emergency. Recently, however, we received instructions from the MHLW tothe effect that such drugs shouldn’t be left unused. Therefore, we have concerns over how tostock drugs in preparation for disasters.

6)

I hope that information on consumer damage will be compiled separately for those withdementia and those with intellectual disabilities. In addition, such data should also be compiled
by gender.

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8. Eliminating discrimination and promoting advocacy
1)

When establishing a system for preventing the infringement of rights and remedying damage
suffered by persons concerned, it is necessary to clarify the procedures involved should abuseoccur as well as the organization that will perform the function of damage relief.

2)

The fact that hospitals, schools and nursery centers are exempt from compulsory reporting of
maltreatment the obligation to give notice under the Act on Prevention of Maltreatment of
Person with Disabilities and Support for Attendants of Person with Disabilities (hereinafter the“Persons with Disabilities Abuse Prevention Act”) is a serious problem.

3)

With regard to the Persons with Disabilities Abuse Prevention Act, we must not only subscribe
to the viewpoint that persons with disabilities may become victims but also that their families
may become victims as well.

4)

Cases concerning human-rights relief under the jurisdiction of the MOJ, cases of abuse under
the Persons with Disabilities Abuse Prevention Act, and cases concerning discrimination under
Act for Eliminating Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (hereinafter the “Persons
with Disabilities Discrimination Elimination Act”) which will be enforced from FY2016
overlap at some points. Is there no framework to handle such cases in a cross-sectional manner?

5)

The provision of reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities will cause excessive
burden. Therefore, I believe that providing proper responses will be impossible unless data on
actual cases is accumulated.

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9. Accommodation in administrative services, etc.
(1) Accommodation for judicial proceedings, etc.
1)

At the time of police questioning, a witness or interpreter should be allowed for persons withintellectual or developmental disabilities.

2)

I am concerned that unless the whole process of police questioning is recorded or video-taped,
only the most important part could be omitted and the interrogated person’s assertion may becompletely misconstrued.

3)

I understand that even when persons with disabilities who have served out their penal servitude
wish to return home, they are considered to have difficulties in community life and are sent tofacilities without carefully considering the consequences thereof because such facilities canreceive additional compensation. Therefore, it is necessary to verify once again whether thecommunity life support program really benefits persons with disabilities.

4)

It is important to prevent re-offending by inmates with disabilities who are incarcerated incorrectional institutions by implementing programs that consider the characteristics of theirdisabilities.

(2) Accommodation for national qualifications, etc.
1)

With respect to reasonable accommodations required at the time of implementation of
examinations for various national qualifications, challenges will be identified by compiling datasuch as the following on examinees who stated their disabilities and/or required
accommodations: the total numbers of such applicants including a breakdown according todisability, the particular details and number of actual cases of reasonable accommodations
provided for examinations, and the number of licenses granted. I also hope that the so-called“disqualification clause” will be reviewed as necessary.

2)

Last year, some cases occurred in which a number of persons were not able to take civil service
examinations because only those who were able to respond to printed questions and commute to
the place of examination by themselves were allowed to take the examinations under the
relevant clauses. At present, almost half of the local governments maintain such requirements.
Therefore, a common guideline for civil service examinations should be established toeliminate such practices.

(MIC)
Before implementing civil service examinations, local governments should establish candidacy
requirements for such examinations in view of the specific responsibilities of the positions that theywish to recruit for.
On the other hand, the reasonable accommodation specified in Article 36-2 of the revised Act
on the Promotion of the Employment of Disabled Persons that will be enforced from April 2016
applies to local governments. Therefore, the MIC has already asked local governments to takeappropriate measures in consideration of the purpose of the revised act and the purpose of theguidelines on reasonable accommodation, and will provide necessary information, etc. to them in the
future as well.

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ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSIONIV System for Promotion
1)

Even if organizations for persons with disabilities, etc. prepare pamphlets and conduct events as
publicity and enlightenment activities, their effects will be limited only to persons withdisabilities and their close supporters. The challenge is how to conduct publicity andawareness-raising activities for the general public in the future.

2)

When examining measures for persons with disabilities, it is important to gather the opinions of
persons with disabilities themselves while considering the balance between those whom thosemeasures are intended to benefit in terms of gender and the types of disabilities involved.

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ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION(Appendix 1)

Statistics Concerning Persons with Disabilities
1)

One of the problems regarding statistics concerning persons with disabilities is that a survey on
disabilities has never been conducted for the entire population of Japan. Therefore, for example,
the possibility of including a question on disability in the population census should be
examined.

2)

The amount of accurate statistics that can be used for monitoring and evaluating measures isinsufficient both for national and local governments. If such statistics are lacking, they should
be prepared.

3)

The act of calculating detailed statistics by gender should be practiced without fail. The States
Parties to the CRPD are obligated to take measures to eliminate multiple forms of
discrimination as specified in Article 6 of the CRPD. Therefore, such detailed statistics bygender will be helpful for eliminating a situation where the actual conditions of multiple formsof discrimination are not known.

4)

When taking measures to help persons with disabilities, it is necessary at first to investigate thecurrent status of employment income, employment quota, and employment support systems, etc.
to identify whether gender differences exist.

5)

For example, concerning employment, the inclusion of a survey by gender in the Report on the
Employment Status of Persons with Disabilities will have limitations. Therefore, anexamination should be carried out into the possibilities of utilizing the Survey on the
Employment Situation of Persons with Disabilities in order to cross tabulate data by gender.

(MHLW)
Under the system of the Report on the Employment Status of Persons with Disabilities,
companies with 50 or more employees are obligated to report on whether or not they have fulfilled
their employment obligations. If they fail to submit a report or submit a false report, they will be
penalized. Since this is not a survey, reporting by gender is not requested. On the other hand, theSurvey on the Employment Situation of Persons with Disabilities is a sample survey of businessestablishments with five or more employees concerning the actual conditions pertaining to persons
with disabilities, including working hours, wage, etc. categorized according to gender. Therefore,
from the viewpoint of investigating the actual conditions of employment by gender, it will be more
appropriate to devise ways to do so using the items of the Survey on the Employment Situation of
Persons with Disabilities.

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ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION(Appendix 2)

Women with Disabilities
1)

Revision of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act for Men and Women resulted in favorable
effects. However, challenges remain, exemplified by the fact that there are still cases wherein
the wheelchair lavatory is located only in the men’s section.

2)

Social participation by women in Japan is lower compared to other advanced countries. Opinion
polls reveal that Japanese people still retain traditional attitudes toward gender-based roles. Thisis an additional challenge.

3)

Positive actions are being promoted with regard to memberships of various councils and expert
panels that determine the various policies of the national and local governments. Positive
actions, etc. should also be promoted for the Commission on Policy for Persons with
Disabilities.

4)

Challenges remain in that necessary information concerning medical institutions is difficult toobtain. Support and arrangement of suitable environments are necessary to ensure that womenwith or without disabilities can give birth to and bring up children without anxiety.

5)

A system is needed that enables women with disabilities to contact and consult a women’s
support desk for the victims of sexual violence and spousal violence.

6)

With respect to the Persons with Disabilities Abuse Prevention Act, examinations should be
carried out from the viewpoint of women with disabilities.

7)

To comply with the provisions concerning “women with disabilities” as specified in Article 6 of
the CRPD, it is necessary to promote the establishment of measures focused on women, such as
the enhancement of descriptions and statistics from the viewpoint of women with disabilities
and the standard introduction of nursing care by persons of the same gender at welfare facilities,
for example.

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Reference 1

List of Coordinators and Persons as a Reference at Working Sessions[Working Session I: Support for decision making, etc., including adult guardianship system]○○

Coordinators: Masahiro Tanaka, Yukinori Tamaki and Kazuhiro Nozawa
Persons as a Reference:
Shoichi Sato (Kokugakuin University), Miyuki Tsuzuki (Japan Sun Industries)
and Mizuko Hosokawa (Toyama Ikuseikai)[Working session II: Support for hospital-to-community transition of persons with mental disabilities andpersons with severe disabilities, etc. in need of medical care]○○

Coordinators: Hideki Ueno, Makoto Ohama, Yoko Kawasaki and Junichi Hirakawa
Persons as a Reference:
Yoshikazu Ikehara (Tokyo Advocacy Law Office)Midori Orita (Parents of artificially-ventilated children Group<Bakubaku-no-Kai>)
Tamotsu Takeda (Atendo & Center for Independent Living - Hop)
Miyuki Yamamoto (Osaka Seishin Iryo Jinken Center)[Working Session III: Inclusive education system, employment, etc.]○○

Coordinators: Satoshi Sato, Masayoshi Tsuge and Masatsugu Tsujii
Persons as a Reference:
Hideaki Ominami (Promotion of National Federation of Special Needs
Education), Nobuaki Tanaka (Meijo Law Offices), Hitomi Nagano (Sophia
University) and Yumi Murakami (VoiceManage)[Working Session IV: Accessibility to Information]○○*

Coordinators: Fujizaburo Ishino, Shinichiro Kadokawa and Yoshiki Takeshita
Persons as a Reference:
Takeo Kondo (The University of Tokyo), Tomoyoshi Shintani (All Japan
Association of Hard of Hearing and Late-Deafened People) and Akira
Terashima (Urawa University)

Names of members are listed in the order of the Japanese syllabary (not alphabetical order) and in the orderof first name followed by surname; titles are omitted; and names of organizations represent those that the
Secretariat is aware of.

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Reference 2

List of Speakers and Persons as a Reference for
the Commission on Policy for Persons with Disabilities[21st Commission on Policy for Persons with Disabilities]○

Ron McCallum, Professor Emeritus, University of Sydney, former chairperson of the United
Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities[23rd Commission on Policy for Persons with Disabilities]○

Yukiko Katsumata, National Institute of Population and Social Security Research[25th Commission on Policy for Persons with Disabilities]○*

Atsushi Nishida, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science

Titles are omitted; and names of organizations represent those that the Secretariat is aware of.

ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION
Reference 3

Times and Dates of Meetings of
the Commission on Policy for Persons with Disabilities
and Working Sessions for the Monitoring of Status of Implementation of
the Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities (Third)
May 19 (Tuesday)
10:30 - 12:30: Working Session IV (1)[Two hours][Information accessibility]
13:30 - 15:30: Working Session II (1)[Two hours][Support for the hospital-to-community
transition of persons with mental
disabilities and persons with severe
disabilities, etc. in need of medical care]

May 29 (Friday), 13:30 - 17:30 [Four hours]
The 21st Commission on Policy for Persons
with Disabilities
Speech by Ron McCallum, former chairpersonof the United Nations Committee on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities“1. Support for daily life”“2. Health care and medical treatment ”“3. Education, cultural and art activities,
sports, etc.”“5. Living environment”(*Excluding themes handled by working
sessions)

May 22 (Friday)
10:30 - 12:30: Working Session I (1)[Two hours][Support for decision making, etc.,
including adult guardianship system]
14:00 - 16:00: Working Session III (1)[Two hours][Inclusive education system, employment,
etc.]
June 1 (Monday)
10:30 - 12:30: Working Session IV (2)[Two hours][Information accessibility]
13:30 - 15:30: Working Session II (2)[Two hours][Support for the hospital-to-community
transition of persons with mental
disabilities and persons with severe
disabilities, etc. in need of medical care]
June 5 (Friday)
13:30 - 15:30: Working Session III (2)[Two hours][Inclusive education system, employment,
etc.]
June 12 (Friday)
10:30 - 12:30: Working Session I (2)[Two hours][Support for decision making, etc.,
including adult guardianship system]

June 29 (Monday) 13:30 - 17:30 [Four hours]
The 22nd Commission on Policy for Persons
with Disabilities“7. Safety and security”“8. Eliminating discrimination andpromoting advocacy*(*excluding themes handled by working
sessions)“9. Accommodation in administrative
services, etc.”“10. International cooperation”“IV System for Promotion”

ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION
July 10 (Friday) 13:15 - 16:15 [Three hours]
The 23rd Commission on Policy for Persons with Disabilities
・Report on the summary of discussions from each working session
・Exchange of opinions
August 10 (Monday) 13:15 - 16:15 [Three hours]
The 24th Commission on Policy for Persons with Disabilities
・ Further discussions covering all areas
August 31 (Monday) 13:15 - 16:15 [Three hours]
The 25th Commission on Policy for Persons with Disabilities
・Confirmation of amendment to opinions expressed at the 24th meeting