Help Mark
Japanese disability symbol
The Help Mark (Japanese: ヘルプマーク, Hepburn: Herupumāku) is a Japanese accessibility symbol for use by those with invisible disabilities. It was designed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and first distributed in 2012. By 2021, all Japanese prefectures had introduced the symbol.
The Help Mark is a symbol used by those in Japan who need special consideration or assistance due to invisible disabilities, such as prostheses, mental disabilities, hearing or vision impairment, or chronic illnesses. It consists of a red rectangle with a white cross above a white heart; the red and the cross represents those in need of assistance, while the heart represents those willing to assist. Tags bearing the Help Mark, themselves called marks, can be carried or worn somewhere on one's person.
Others are encouraged to offer their seats on trains or buses to those with a mark and assist in evacuation in the case of an emergency. They are available free of charge from government offices in Japan. They do not require disability certification or paperwork to be acquired and used.
History
The Help Mark was designed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in 2012 after a Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly member with an artificial joint called for the creation of a mark to represent people with invisible disabilities.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Help Mark” as japanese disability symbol. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as japanese disability symbol. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q24898863. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2012 and 2021.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Help Mark”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Help Mark primary sources, Help Mark archive and Help research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Help Mark”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Help Mark” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.