By Miho Matsuzaka

Last year, the faking of earthquake safety data was reported on TV, and it brought great insecurity and anger to people. This problem made headlines around the world. In spite of this affair, a new scandal, involving Toyoko Inn's illegal renovations came to light. It was reported that Toyoko Inn initially built buildings with facilities and parking lots for handicapped people, as stipulated by law. However, after the facilities passed the final inspection, Toyoko Inn removed these facilities, remodeled them, and started business as usual. These actions however, violate the law. The illegal remodeling was brought to light by one of Toyoko Inn's employees. After the detection, cities and wards started to inquire into renovations at 126 Toyoko Inn hotels in 39 prefectures, and found illegal renovations at more than 60 hotels. When you build a hotel, a house, or a hospital, you must build it to certain specifications with permission from the municipal government. However, in the case of alterations, you don't need any special application. Toyoko Inn's alterations are an inexcusable act which tramples the spirit of the law through this blind spot. At this point, I would like to introduce the "Ha-to Biru" law for handicapped people and elderly people. "Ha-to Biru" comes from the English words "Heartful" and "Building." "Heartful Building" is translated as "Universal Design" in English.

This law aims to promote the construction of particular buildings that can be used easily by elderly people and physically handicapped people. It was enacted in 1994. In present-day Japan, the aging society is becoming a problem. The law is intended to promote the elderly and handicapped people's self-reliance and participation in society. By improving the design of public buildings that many people utilize, the elderly and the handicapped are able to utilize the buildings, too. Moreover, this law's aim is to increase the number of new constructions. Thus, facilities such as hospitals, movie theaters, department stores, hotels and gyms are applying the new law by designing their facilities with larger doors, passageways, and accessible parking lots, and so on. In addition, those facilities that build under this law are able to receive special tax breaks and low interest loans.

In spite of building hotels under this law, Toyoko Inn's group altered their plans because very few handicapped people stay at their hotels. They rebuilt regular rooms from space designated for handicapped people, built larger front desk areas by eliminating parking lots for handicapped people, and removed studded paving blocks and wheelchair emblems. At first, president Nishida of Toyoko Inn calmly told a group of reporters that they altered some space because handicapped people seldom stayed there. However, he soon noticed how grave the issue was and he quickly visited the Japan Physically Handicapped Group Alliance Association. Nishida and four executives apologized together and he said, "I aim to make hotels available for physically handicapped people and I want to contribute to society." However, his lack of morals and lying can only be interpreted to mean he is the wrong person to run a company. It is astonishing that Japanese society so easily accepts the idea of social welfare without really understanding it.

We need to rethink our priorities in light of this affair. Despite having a universal design law for handicapped and elderly people, Toyoko Inn views only the able-bodied person's viewpoint. However, not only hotels but also hospitals and department stores need to make their facilities comfortable and accessible for the elderly and handicapped. Furthermore, able-bodied people should learn to help those less fortunate. Moreover, as in the case of the Toyoko Inn employee, if we have a guilty conscience because our company is not living up to its moral obligations, then we must report the situation to the authorities. In order to build a nation that cares for the elderly and the handicapped, such whistle blowing is the right thing to do. Only then can we overcome such problems and build a better society.