[Don]

Thank you schroth-sensei and josh-san. Thoughtful points. At least I have time to research an alternative to a Whill as the London-Tokyo air fare has been so high since Ukraine that sadly am unlikely to return this year.

One thing I did get right given my novice wheelchair status was our choice of Yokohama’s Minatomurai district as a base – wide uncrowded and well-kept pavements and dropped curbs, easy access to several stations, all intersections traffic-light controlled, huge choice of step-free shops and restaurants in many department stores and malls, plus traffic-free level access along coast as far as Chinatown and Motomachi. OK much is just high-rise concrete but I have seen the tourist stuff before..

Am a member of the Japan Railway Society and I plan to pen a piece for its journal Bullet-In on accessibility in Japan, with special reference of course to trains. It took patience and Japanese language skills to book a wheelchair space but the time and trouble JR East and JR Hokkaido staff took to help was amazing (ditto JAL). Our ‘accessible” monthly mansion room and two hotels we used were another matter a couple of grab bars in bathroom was about it. . In one, our ‘universal’ room had four beds but not a single chair I could use