On August 31, 2023, the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) announced the winners of the FY2023 “Outstanding Business Awards for the Employment of Persons with Disabilities.”

This award is given annually in conjunction with the “Disability Employment Support Month” of September. Its purpose is to motivate people with disabilities to become more professionally independent and to deepen further the interest and understanding of the public, especially among employers, regarding the employment of people with disabilities.

The winners of this fiscal year’s awards are as follows:

1. Outstanding business offices employing persons with disabilities (9 in total)

Location	Office Name
Ibaraki	Ibaraki Co-op
Gunma	Eikyu Co., Ltd.
Kanagawa	Odawara Hyakkaten Co., Ltd.
Niigata	Minami-Uonuma, Social Welfare Service Corporation
Aichi	Yamanaka Co., Ltd.
Hyogo	Tada-Smith Co., Ltd.
Wakayama	Sunrise Co., Ltd.
Hiroshima	Fuji Building Service Co., Ltd.
Miyazaki	Miyazaki Sun Foods Co., Ltd.

2. An organization or an individual who has worked for the promotion of employment and job security of persons with disabilities (1 in total)

(Titles omitted)

Prefecture	Name	Employer
Yamanashi	Hiroshi Iida	Yamanashi Sekisui Co., Ltd.

3. Outstanding workers with disabilities (10 in total)

(Titles omitted)

Office Location	Name	Office Name
Aomori	Junko Makanae	Canon Precision, Inc.
Iwate	Rie Kikuchi	JA Iwate Furusato
Miyagi	Hiroaki Hoshi	Miyagi Toyota Co., Ltd.
Kanagawa	Miki Sato	Shibahashi Corporation
Tottori	Tsutomu Tada	Yonago Kiko Co., Ltd.
Yamaguchi	Marie Otani	Community Medical Support Hospital Open System, Tokuyama Medical Association Hospital
Kagawa	Masanori Koyama	Sanuki Livestock Foods Co., Ltd.
Kochi	Atsushi Kojima	Kochi Plant, FPCO Ducks Co., Ltd.
Kumamoto	Yuto Nishimura	Nagata Pan Co., Ltd.
Okinawa	Hirofumi Kawamitsu	Taiyo Linen Supply Co., Ltd.

Similarly, as part of the awareness-raising activities for the “Disability Employment Support Month,” the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Award is given every year to a particularly outstanding entry in the “Painting and Photography Contest for the Disability Employment Support Month” sponsored by the Japan Organization for the Employment of the Elderly, Persons with Disabilities and Job Seekers; and the winners of the award were also announced.

For more information, please visit the website below（Japanese）:
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_34895.html