Social Media ‘X’ Responds to Wheelchair-User Ryoko Nakajima Posting About Tokyo Cinema Access Denial

By Barrier Free Japan

March 23 2024

TOKYO – An incident took place at an Aeon cinema in Tokyo, which is regularly used by Ryoko Nakajima, a wheelchair-using woman. TBS reported that: “The woman watched the movie not from the wheelchair-only space, but from a reclining seat with four steps.”

Nakajima paid an additional fee and watched the movie in a reclining seat, rather than in the wheelchair-only space.

According to Nakajima, a staff member who appeared to be the manager came to her and told her this: “As you can see, this theater is dangerous because of the steps, and the staff who can help you don’t have that much time.”

When the Nakajima posted about this incident on social media, in which she said she would be refused admission to the cinema next time, it went viral.

People on social media, or Social Network System (SNS) had a variety of opinions, here are some examples with the ‘poster’s’ name removed.

Some ‘posters’ felt the situation couldn’t helped, that it:

Others felt that the intentions of the staff at the Aeon cinema were simply “misplaced” and that there is a need for improvement, suggesting the idea of ‘premium’ seats, posting:

And some posts seemed to be critical of Nakajima’s request to have access to the cinema as a wheelchair user. They pointed out that the staff at the cinema aren’t meant to act as carers, posting: