[gofer]

Hi Trish. What the tour operators are saying to you is untrue. I have just come back from nearly 4 weeks in Japan pushing my 25 year old daughter in a wheelchair (I am well over 70). She can walk about 10 yards but has significant spinal problems. We started in Matsue (not recommended because of the steps up to the castle) then went to Hiroshima, Himeji, Osaka, Kyoto, Kanazawa, Shirakawa-go, Takayama, Matsumoto and Tokyo. I made all the travel arrangements myself (with the invaluable assistance of Wheelchair Travel for disabled train tickets) and only had one slight problem with one hotel. This was because although I told them about the wheelchair I mistakenly said that we didn’t need disabled facilities. When we checked in we found that there was an obstruction in the room which required the wheelchair to be dismantled to get it in so we had to upgrade the room.

I have travelled quite a bit in Japan both work and leisure and, barring traditional Ryokan have never seen an hotel without a lift. One big plus with hotels in Japan is that they have self service laundry facilities. This means you don’t have to carry so much clothing. Also hotel to hotel luggage delivery is a well established service.

If you want to contact me directly I can let you know more.