Ryokan pulls no punches when it comes to guests with disabilities

From The Asahi 

December 9 2023

GUNMA – A ryokan at the Ikaho Onsen hot springs resort in Gunma Prefecture has a solid history of caring about guests with disabilities.

Back in the 1990s, a guest at the traditional Japanese-style inn started complaining vociferously in the hotel’s bathhouse after finding it soiled by disabled guests.

Tomoko Matsumoto, now 80, was the inn’s proprietress at the time. She apologized profusely to the irate guest, bowing over and over.

But the guest could not be appeased, and even started suggesting the disabled guests should have been refused admittance to the ryokan in the first place.

That was the last straw for Matsumoto. She told the guest: “I want you to move to another ryokan. But these (disabled) people have nowhere else to go. This is the only ryokan they can stay at.”

Back then, few inns were wheelchair-accessible and able to openly welcome patrons with disabilities.

Matsumoto’s daughter, Yuki, 54, recalled that even though her mother came across as slightly harsh, she was right to stand her ground. “Way to go, Mum. Our ryokan is exactly how you put it.”

More than 20 years have elapsed since then, and Yuki now runs the ryokan. She wants the facility to be fully accommodating of “vulnerable travelers”–a lodging where disabled people and families with small children can feel safe and comfortable.

Her attempts at making her ryokan barrier-free are now attracting the attention of locals.

I asked the older Matsumoto what made her rebuke the indignant guest all those years ago.

She hesitated at first, but eventually told me in a low voice that when she was in junior high school, her favorite playmate had polio and wasn’t always treated kindly.

“I felt it was wrong of society to be like that,” she said quietly.

From the window, I saw the mountains of Gunma soaring majestically.