On 29 September 2022, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) held the 8th evaluation council on facilitating smooth modes of transportation.

The council was established in accordance with the Barrier-Free [Amendment] Act (Article 4) promulgated in May 2018 and is composed of relevant administrative bodies, older persons, persons with disabilities, local governments, Facility Installation Managers*, and other relevant parties, which regularly monitor and evaluate the progress of facilitating smooth modes of transportation in order to promote mobility.

* Facility Installation Managers means public transportation operators, road administrators, off-street parking lot administrators, park administrators, or building owners.

The first evaluation council was held on 26 February 2019 and has been held about twice a year.

In addition, sub-councils have been set up in 10 blocks across the country to regularly monitor and evaluate the state of progress in facilitating mobility in the regions.

Furthermore, the MLIT has been holding "disability characteristic-specific thematic opinion-exchange meetings" with various organizations of persons with disabilities in order to identify issues according to a range of disability characteristics and such appropriately. As of the end of September 2022, the following meetings have been held:　

The agenda for this meeting was as follows:

(i)     Consideration of the Barrier-Free Evaluation Index from the perspective of the parties concerned.
(ii)    Major opinions at the Evaluation Meeting for Facilitating Mobility and the status of responses by the MLIT
(iii)   Others

For more information, please visit the website below.
https://www.mlit.go.jp/sogoseisaku/barrierfree/sosei_barrierfree_tk_000160.html