[Accessible Japan]

Hello,

Thank you for your question.

First of all, a little bit about rentals in Japan:

Equipment rentals in Japan are strongly linked to the national healthcare system.  Those who need equipment, like hoists or wheelchairs, are registered with their local government and when they rent equipment they apply through their city who directs them to registered rental companies.  The person will rent the equipment via the company but the city pays 90%.  Rentals are done on a monthly, not daily, period.  So, since the companies are geared towards this system, they are often reluctant to rent for a short period to someone not in the system, and either rent at a month-long price (perhaps around 30,000 yen) or refuse to rent.

We have contacts in Tokyo, and Kyoto, but unfortunately none in Hiroshima yet.

I did some searches in Japanese and found these companies that offer hoist rentals:

• http://h-fukushi.net/rental-item-catalog.html
• http://soin-hazama.jp/rental/index.html
• http://realworth-fcs.com/index.html#B000000069 (have email form)
• Here is the full official list from Hiroshima City: http://www.city.hiroshima.lg.jp/www/contents/1314870249956/index.html

Renting a bed is possible, but I would be surprised if hotels would allow it. Hotel Granvia Hiroshima’s accessible room has a motorized bed: http://hgh.co.jp/syukuhaku/stay_std_universal.html.

Do you have contacts within the sailing contest organizers?  If so, my suggestion is to ask them for help with the rental since the rental company will need a contract signed and they are more likely to be open to it with a local contact.  What they will need to look for is a 移動用リフト (idoyo rifuto), also called a  介護リフト (kaigo rifuto).

You may also want to reach out to Hiroshima BarrierFree Tour Center (http://midori-gr.com/barrierfree/) to see if they can help.

While we don’t have much info, we are eager to help and learn (though we cannot rent it for you, sorry).