Japan's upper house on Sunday started renovation work for two newly elected lawmakers with severe physical disabilities.

As Yasuhiko Funago, 61, who has Lou Gehrig's disease, and Eiko Kimura, 54, who has cerebral palsy, use bigger-than-normal wheelchairs, the House of Councillors removed three seats from its chamber for plenary sessions to create space for them to attend. The seats were at the back of the chamber near a doorway.

Funago and Kimura won seats in the July 21 election as candidates for Reiwa Shinsengumi, a political group founded in April by actor-turned-politician Taro Yamamoto to "challenge the establishment and status quo."

Electric power sources will be installed where the two lawmakers are sitting so they can use them to charge their wheelchairs and medical equipment.

The upper house's steering committee agreed Thursday to improve barrier-free accessibility of its facilities for the two lawmakers.

It will complete part of the renovations by Thursday before an extraordinary Diet session begins. Further renovation work, including setting up special voting buttons, will be carried out by the start of another extraordinary Diet session to be held in the fall.

Past accommodations made by Japan's parliament for lawmakers with special needs include providing documents in Braille for lawmakers with weak eyesight.

When wheelchair user Eita Yashiro, 82, was elected to the upper house in 1977, a slope was installed and a seat taken out to ensure he could take part in sessions. Ramps and multipurpose restrooms are now established features.

But Funago and Kimura's disabilities are considered more severe than those of their predecessors.

Funago, who has had no limb mobility since 2008, relies on a computer to communicate that he controls with a special sensor that detects his biting motions.

He and Kimura, who has had cerebral palsy since she was 8 months old and also has restricted physical mobility, both depend on caregivers to get around.

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