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The Coronavirus Crisis: Disability Politics and Activism in Contemporary Japan
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2025
Abstract
The spread of COVID–19 across Japan has exacerbated accessibility issues born out of the nation's past, creating difficulties for disabled people in the present and anxieties about the future. In this article, I consider some of the historical contingencies and geopolitical circumstances that have fueled a precarious pipeline to risk and institutionalization for many disabled individuals. My analysis reveals how inadequate installation and inappropriate use of accommodations like ramps and elevators in various public venues has prevented disabled people from obtaining key supplies. It suggests that some disabled people have survived the current moment by relying on professional caregivers, but others have been unable to do so due to service cancellations and fear of contagion.
For individuals without support networks, assisted living facilities have offered a means of survival. However, many assisted living facilities have long grappled with funding issues and lack of willing workers. Accordingly, their residents have been exposed to neglect, abuse, and now, viral infection.
Aware of the situation, government officials have instituted emergency policies to provide disabled people and assisted living facilities with personal protective equipment and flexible financing. And yet, as activists have argued, those policies have often failed to pan out in practice. The future of disability in Japan remains uncertain. But as I suggest, the current crisis is our chance to intervene. I contend that we must use this opportunity to identify and resolve barriers to accessibility in Japan and build an inclusive society for domestic and international populations of disabled individuals.
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- Copyright © The Authors 2020
References
Notes
1 Motoko Rich, “We're in a Petri Dish: How a Coronavirus Ravaged a Cruise Ship,” The New York Times (February 22, 2020).
2 Satoshi Sugiyama, “With Japan-wide Emergency, Abe Highlights Sense of Crisis Over Virus,” The Japan Times (April 17, 2020).
3 Sankei News, “Kinkyū jitai sengen, ‘oso sugiru’ 8-wari chō, naikaku shijiritsu 39% Sankei FNN gōdō seronchōsa,” (April 13, 2020).
4 Magdalena Osumi, “Discrimination in Japan on the Rise as Coronavirus Fears Grow,” The Japan Times (February 10, 2020).
5 Tomohiro Osaki, “‘Coronavirus Harassment’ Surge Suggests Growing Panic in Japan,” The Japan Times (March 19, 2020).
6 Mainichi Shinbun, “Saitama-shi masuku haifu, Chōsengakkō yōchi-bu o jogai ‘tenbai sareru kamo’ shokuin hatsugen ni ichi kanbu shazai,” (March 11, 2020).
7 In this essay, I use “disabled people” to refer to individuals with a diverse array of physical and cognitive impairments. Although I tend to highlight the experiences of adults with physical conditions like blindness and mobility disorders, it is worth mentioning that there are other demographics of disabled individuals whose experiences I cannot attend to. For example, disabled children, who are affected by school closings during the coronavirus crisis, and deaf individuals, who have experienced unique communication issues because of the widespread use of masks that prevent lip reading. Similarly, due to space limitations I cannot address numerous intersectional identities: gendered, classed, and other.
8 Mainichi Shinbun, “Higashi nihon daishinsai borantia shōgaisha kyūen honbu setsuritsu chōki shien taisei hitsuyō,” (April 20, 2011).
9 Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Shingata koronauirusu kansenshō ni kansuru kinkyū taiōsaku dai 2 dan (March 20, 2020).
10 Japan Disability Forum, Shingatakoronauirusu kansenshō ni kansuru yōbō (daiichiji) (March 27, 2020); Japan Society for Disability Studies, Statement on COVID-19 and Persons with Disabilities (April 6, 2020); and DPI Japan, Shingatakoronauirusu taisaku ni okeru shōgai no aru mono e no jinken hoshō ni kansuru yōbō (April 13, 2020).
11 Yatogo Takeshi, “Kenri toshite no ‘inkurūshibu na machidzukuri’ e no hatten katei to gijutsu – otagai o sonchō suru kyōsei no tame no dezain e,” Toshi keikaku (2014), pp. 8–13.
12 Asahi Shinbun. “Kurumaisu jōsha mata ōmome – basu 35-dai ga unkyū Kawasaki eki mae,” (April 13, 1977).
13 It is worth mentioning that disability activism in the late 1980s and early 1990s led policymakers to create regional ‘barrier-free ordinances’ which recommended, but did not require, operators of businesses to install accommodations. Those ordinances were eventually standardized at the national level via the passage of the Heart Building Law in 1994. However, accommodations remained optional until the promulgation of the Barrier-Free Transportation Law in 2000. Kawauchi Yoshihiko, Baria furu Nippon – shōgai o motsu akusesu senmonka ga mita machidzukuri (1996), and Onoue Kōji, “Kaisetsu kōtsū bariafurī-hō,” Nōmaraizēshon shōgaisha no fukushi, Vol. 20 (2000).
14 Imafuku Yoshiaki, “Idō kōtsū no bariafuri o kenshō suru – Konshū no kōtsū bariafurī hō kaisei ni mukete –,” Nōmaraizēshon shōgaisha no fukushi, Vol. 25 (2005).
15 Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, General Principles of Universal Design Policy (2005), pp. 1–19, and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, Hāto no aru biru o tsukurou (Barrier-Free Law Pamphlet) (2006).
16 Uranaka Taiga, “Societal barriers facing disabled may prove the most formidable,” The Japan Times (December 18, 2000).
17 Carolyn Stevens, “Accessibility and the Built Environment in Japan,” Disability in Japan (2013), pp. 138–155.
18 In fact, such delays continue in the present. Consider the results of a nationwide survey conducted by DPI Japan in October of 2019, which showed that 30% of wheelchair users who called for ‘universal design taxis’ could not secure rides, and those who could had to wait on average twelve minutes to board after the taxis arrived to pick them up. DPI Japan, Zenkoku issei kōdō! UD takushī jōsha undō ankēto shūkei kekka ni tsuite (November 12, 2019).
19 Yoshiura Miwa, “Bariafurī no makoto no imi,” Nōmaraizēshon shōgaisha no fukushi, Vol. 20 (2000).
20 Asahi Shinbun, “Kurumaisu deiriguchi, semasugite tōrenai,” (May 27, 2000).
21 The Japan Times, “Evacuation posing grave challenge for disabled,” (June 19, 2012).
22 As demographers continue to debate the meaning of ‘deaths linked to the disaster’ (i.e. drowning, physical trauma, and/or stress-related illnesses) the precise mortality rate of disabled persons remains unclear. However, most sources agree that the rate of disabled casualties is significantly higher than that of nondisabled persons. Katsunori Fujii, “The Great Earthquake and Disabled Persons – Background to the High Mortality Rate –,” in Japan Disability Forum eds., Report on the Great East Japan Earthquake and Support for Persons with Disabilities Activities and Proposals of the Japan Disability Forum and Related Organizations (March 2015), and Kyodo News, “Disabled Account for 25% of Japan's 2011 quake-linked deaths: survey,” (March 2, 2020).
23 In fact, the Japanese government was already in the middle of developing a new disability welfare system when the 3/11 crisis occurred. The conflation of welfare for elderly and disabled people, which took place via a revision of the Long-Term Care Insurance System (kaigo hoken) in 2005, created financial difficulties for many disabled individuals. Some began to protest, demanding that separate systems be enacted with appropriate measures for both populations. In 2006, the activities of disabled protestors gained traction as the United Nations adopted its Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. To ratify the convention, Japanese officials began to redesign the nation's welfare scheme. The 3/11 triple disaster helped shape the contours of the new welfare system and push forward policymaking efforts. For additional information, see my forthcoming dissertation: Politics and Prosthetics: 150 Years of Disability in Japan.
24 United Nations Department of Social and Economic Affairs, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), and Cabinet Office, Law for Elimination of Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Shōgai sabetsu kaisho hō, 2013).
25 Kyodo News, “Japanese government to require wheelchair-accessible rooms at new hotels,” (October 16, 2018), and Jiji Press, “Barrier-Free services on public transit to be mandatory,” (January 16, 2020).
26 Tokyo Shinbun, “Gaishutsu dōkōsha naku, shikaku shōgaisha kukyō ‘gaido herupā‘ hirogaru katsudō jishuku,” (April 27, 2020).
27 Jiji Press, “Groups Calling for Attention to Vulnerable Amid Virus Spread,” (March 5, 2020); Mark Bookman and Michael Gillan Peckitt, “Facing the COVID–19 Crisis in Japan with a Disability,” The Japan Times (March 30, 2020); and Magdalena Osumi, “Virus Exacerbates Challenges for People in Japan with Disabilities,” The Japan Times (May 12, 2020).
28 For additional information about the structure of Japan's caregiving system, see Watanabe Taku, Kaijoshatachi wa, dō ikite iku no ka – shōgaisha no chiiki jiritsu seikatsu to kaijo to iu itonami (2011).
29 Satake Jun, “Graying Japan Needs Foreign Caregivers, but Language Barrier Poses Challenge,” Nippon.com (July 25, 2018).
30 NHK News Web, “Hōmon kaigoshoku no yūkō kyūjin bairitsu 13-bai ni jōshō jinzai kakuho no taisaku kyūmu ni,” (January 10, 2020).
31 Michael Gillan Peckitt, “Do the Elderly and Disabled People in Japan Want Robots to Look After Them,” The Japan Times (October 14, 2018), and The Japan Times, “Fewer foreigners than expected coming to Japan to work as caregiver trainees, data shows,” (December 1, 2018).
32 NHK News Web, “Shōgaisha fukushi sābisu zenkoku de 900 jigyōsho ga kyūgyō shingatakorona no eikyō,” (April 28, 2020), and Mainichi Shinbun, “Shingatakorona ‘nōkō sesshokusha igai’ demo sābisu kyohi aitsugu ‘kaigo hōkai’ ni kikikan,” (April 13, 2020).
33 Asahi Shinbun, “Kaigo shokuin ‘yametai’ 6-wari ‘shigoto tsurai’ ‘chingin yasui’,” (April 22, 2019)
34 Jiji Press, “Abuses against disabled hit record 2,745 cases in Japan in FY 2018,” (December 20, 2019).
35 Tokyo Shinbun, “Sagamihara sasshō Uematsu yōgisha no tegami shōhō,” (July 27, 2016).
36 The Japan Times, “Nearly 20% of Japan's Nursing Care Providers Out of Masks Amid COVID–19 Outbreak,” (March 5, 2020).
37 It is worth mentioning that the emergence of cluster infections at assisted living facilities is not unique to Japan. Clusters have also developed in places like the United States, where more than 40,600 residents have been infected as of June 2020, accounting for roughly 40% of the nation's death toll. Marisa Kwiatkowski, Tricia L. Nadolny, Jessica Priest, and Mike Stucka, “‘A national disgrace’: 40,600 deaths tied to US nursing homes,” USA Today (June 1, 2020).
38 The actual rate of infection in ALF and public settings may differ depending on the availability of diagnostic testing. However, the large disparity in reported statistics is worthy of note. The Mainichi, “Japan Care Facility Creates Indoor Hospital Section After Huge Virus Cluster Found,” (April 21, 2020), and Ryusei Takahashi, “Bowing to pressure, Tokyo releases COVID-19 testing and infection data dating back to January,” The Japan Times (May 9, 2020).
39 Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Shingatakoronauirusu kansenshō no hassei ni tomonau shōdokuyō etanōru no toriatsukai ni tsuite (March 10, 2020).
40 Kyodo News, “Shōgai shisetsu no korona kansen bōshi ni josei zaitaku kunren ya koshitsuka,” (March 17, 2020).
41 Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Kaigo sābisu jigyōsho ni kyūgyō o yōsei suru sai no ryūiten ni tsuite (sono 2) (April 7, 2020). For more information about official responses to the caregiving crisis and its connection to COVID-19, see a recent Q/A with disabled politician Kimura Eiko. Kimura Eiko, Shingatakoronauirusu Q&A (April 13, 2020).
42 NHK News Web, “Shōgaisha jigyōsho no hansū chō ‘masuku haifu mitōshi nai’,” (April 21, 2020).
43 Mainichi Shinbun, “Korona, hōmon kaigo kiki sābisu ‘mitsu’, kansen risuku-dai,” (May 4, 2020).
44 NHK News Web, “Shōgaisha shisetsu shūdan kansen de kansen 2-nin-zō,” (April 27, 2020), and Sankei News, “Hokkaidō, shōgaisha ya kōreisha shisetsu de kansen kakudai nobe 726-nin ni,” (April 29, 2020).
45 Just as clusters have emerged in assisted living facilities outside of Japan, so too have activist calls for policy reform. Consider a policy brief issued by the United Nations, which sought to ensure disability rights and inclusion in response to the COVID-19 crisis. United Nations, Policy Brief: A Disability-Inclusive Response to COVID-19 (May 2020).
46 Japanese activists have tried to address COVID-related issues for individuals with specific conditions and general populations of disabled people. To do so, they have mobilized local and global legal frameworks based on notions of human rights. Such strategies have a long history in Japan. For additional information about that history, see Katharina Heyer, Rights Enabled: The Disability Revolution, From the US, to Germany and Japan, to the United Nations (2015).
47 Japan Patients Association, Shingatakoronauirusu e no taiō ni kansuru yōbōsho (February 25, 2020), and Jiji Press, “Jakusha ni shiwayose no kenen nanbyō kanja, shikaku shōgaishara – masuku fusoku nado de shingatakorona,” (March 5, 2020).
48 Japan Council on Disability, Kmkyū yōbō shōgai no aru hito no inochi kenkō kurashi o mamoru kinkyū taisaku ni tsuite (March 3, 2020).
49 Japan Disability Forum, Shingatakoronauirusu kansenshō ni kansuru yōbō (dachiji) (March 27, 2020).
50 Article eleven of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, “Situations of Risk and Humanitarian Emergencies,” stipulates that “States Parties shall take, in accordance with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters.” United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (Disability Subdivision), Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006).
51 Japan Society for Disability Studies, Statement on COVID-19 and Persons with Disabilities (April 6, 2020). Also see DPI Japan, Shingatakoronauirusu taisaku ni okeru shōgai no aru mono e no jinken hoshō ni kansuru yōbō (April 13, 2020).
52 The Japan Times, “Elderly Citizens Accounted for Record 28.4% of Japan's Population in 2018, Data Show,” (September 15, 2019).
53 I have discussed elsewhere how Japanese developments in accessibility may be exported to other cultural contexts, and how notions of accessibility from other cultures may be imported to Japan for mutual gain. Mark Bookman, “An Olympics Crowdsourcing Project May Be the Answer to Making Japan a More Accessible Country,” (May 26, 2019).
54 DPI Japan, Bariafurī hō kaisei hō no seiritsu ni taisuru DPI nihonkaigi seimei inkurūshibu shakai no jitsugen no tame ni saranaru bariafurī no suishin o! (May 13, 2020).