An exhibition introducing the “Together 2020” campaign of The Mainichi Newspapers — owner of Palaceside Building and an official sponsor of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games — opened on the 31st in the open space beside the first-floor east main entrance＝
(photo at right).
The campaign began in 2016 from the observation that barriers blocking fuller social participation by people with disabilities, older people and others who are socially vulnerable are not only physical, but also “barriers of the heart” — indifference, lack of understanding, discrimination. It looks toward a society of mutual help by 2020.
The Mainichi Newspapers, as the only Japanese publisher of a braille newspaper, Braille Mainichi, has long been active on disability issues. On the evening of the 31st a symposium marking Braille Mainichi’s 95th anniversary on the 11th was held at Mainichi Hall on the first basement; the exhibition was timed to introduce the “Together” work alongside it.
Panels show the December 14, 2016 edition that effectively started the campaign, later campaign articles and the history of Braille Mainichi. There is also a corner on the Tokyo Helen Keller Association, a social-welfare corporation that publishes braille books. A braille typewriter was brought in so visitors can try it. When we stopped by, someone was just punching braille onto a business card (photo at the top).
The exhibition runs through June 6.