January 27, 2025
The braille version of Akahata this month marked the 50th anniversary after it was first published in January 1975 in response to a strong call from visually-impaired persons. This monthly Akahata is the only braille periodical issued by a political party in Japan.
In 1975, the January 12 issue of daily Akahata carried an article announcing the publication of a braille-version of monthly Akahata. The article reported that the Japanese Communist Party, as part of its activities, publishes tens of braille documents including the Party Program and supports a volunteer group working to publish the audio version of Sunday Akahata for hearing-impaired persons in collaboration with the Sunday Akahata editorial team. In the article, the JCP stated, “In addition to these activities, in response to an increasing call from visually-challenged people, the party decided to publish the braille version of Akahata.”
The January 2025 issue of braille Akahata featured interviews with two people who have been subscribing to the monthly Akahata since its first appearance.
One of the two, Tanaka Shoji, who lives in Saitama Prefecture and used to be a board member of an organization of individuals with visual impairment, showed his gratitude for the publication, and said, “Braille Akahata helps me to understand the current political situation.”
The other, Hayashi Masami, living in Niigata Prefecture, talked about his experience. He said, “Around 1973, one of my seniors told me, ‘I want to read daily Akahata in braille. Why don’t we make a request to the JCP regarding this issue?’ We then submitted the request to the JCP Niigata Prefectural Committee.” Looking back on those days, he said with deep feeling, “Nearly one year later, I heard from the district organization that our dream was about to be realized. I was really surprised.”
Aiming to help protect the rights and livelihoods of the visually impaired, braille Akahata has been playing an important role in providing useful information based on daily Akahata articles.
