Reply To: First time disabled in Japan
I’m glad you found my post interesting, and thank you for sharing your experiences.
As you’ve said, visiting Japan with a disability does still require some research to ensure you are able to even visit some places. Unlike the US, Japan’s codes for providing accessibility to public places are still fairly new in comparison, so many of the older buildings have been grandfathered-in to the old codes for now.
However, a lot has changed in just the last couple decades alone. When I first went to Japan in 2008 I had almost no information to go on, Accessible Japan didn’t exist yet, I was lucky to find info on a few popular spots. So websites like these are a blessing, even to me, to have such available info. Also, luckily in 2008 I had a strong family member with me then, so a step or two wasn’t a big issue, but some stations weren’t accessible at all (good thing the train attendants knew where to reroute). Now I had no problems in the Tokyo area, you don’t really have to worry about the trains, metro, subway access (well, maybe a couple small elevators). So, it’s nice to see things progressing.
-Justin
