2025 Promises to be the Year for Deaf Athletes in Japan
By Barrier Free Japan
December 31st 2024
TOKUSHIMA - As Barrier Free Japan writes this, they are in Tokushima City and it is New Years Eve. Soon Toshikoshi soba will be served - buckwheat noddles that we eat as we go from one year into the next, ‘Toshikoshi’ literally means ‘year-crossing’ - will be consumed and no doubt NHK’s end of year sing-a-long competition show, the ‘Kouhaku’ will be watched and possibly slept through. The year is almost over, it is time to greet the next one. And I do want to look forward to 2025, but before I mention what I look forward to in 2025, there is one final bit of ‘2024 Barrier Free Japan housekeeping’ that needs attention.
It was reported on Christmas Day that 2024 saw a record high number of cases of abuse against people with disabilities in Japan.
4,641 people with disabilities were abused by family members or staff at welfare facilities for the disabled, the highest number ever.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, last year, there were 3,477 cases of abuse of people with disabilities in local governments nationwide, and 4,641 people were abused, both of which are the highest numbers since statistics began being collected in 2012.
Although NHK did report it, I felt this story got lost in the ‘Be-Twixmas’, that undefined period between Christmas and New Year which can also act like a black hole for news. Even in Japan, where only approximately two percent of the population are Christian, stories told during the Be-Twixmas often go unheard.
That bad news has been said, now what does 2025 hold for people with disabilities in Japan?
The event I am forward to the most is the the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics which will be held from November 15 to 26, 2025 in Tokyo with other venues in Shizuoka and Fukushima. Despite being older than the Paralympics - the first Deaflympics was held in Paris, France in 2024 - it doesn’t receive as much attention as the Paralympics, although like the Paralympics it is recognized by the IOC. This event will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Deaflympics, the Winter events being held in 2024 in Erzurum, Turkey.
Roughly 3,000 athletes from 70 to 80 countries and regions will participate. Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium is to be the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies. Swimming events will be held at Tokyo Aquatics Centre, while track and field events as well as volleyball matches will take place at Komazawa Olympic Park. Soccer and cycling are the only events that will be held outside Tokyo, at J-Village in Fukushima Prefecture and at Japan Cycle Sports Center in Shizuoka Prefecture, respectively.
Barrier Free Japan is also interested in the Osaka Expo which is to take place in 2025, it will take place from April 13 to October 13, 2025. Osaka perviously held the ‘World Expo’ in 1970. A major theme of the 2025 Expo will be that will have ‘Diversity’ as a theme. According to the organizers:
“At the World Expo 2025 (Osaka Kansai Expo), based on “Designing Future Society for Our Lives” theme and “Unity in diversity” venue design concept, we respect the values and individuality of each person, regardless of his/her nationality, culture, race, sex, generation, whether he/she has disabilities or not, etc., and aim to implement a universal design that is easy to use for people from all over the world visiting the Osaka Kansai Expo.”
See you all in 2025!