As Public Spaces Become Limited in Japan, Architectural History Professor Warns of Threat to Vulnerable Groups

By Barrier Free Japan

June 23 2024

TOKYO – Japan is a country of some 125.1 million people, approximately 13.96 million of whom live in Tokyo. Space is at a premium, so where there is space it will be used, even if; as Taro Igarashi, a professor of architectural history and theory at the graduate school of Tohoku University points out, how it is used excludes vulnerable members of society.

Taro Igarashi is the author of “Kabobi Toshi” or “Overprotective city” published 20 years ago and in a recent interview with The Asahi Shimbun, Igarashi warns how phenomena such as ‘hostile benches’ –  benches, often installed in public parks that are uncomfortable to sit on – are designed in way to discourage people from using them, that they have an “exclusionary purpose” which “has long been forgotten.” Igarashi said:

“Administrative officials and other stakeholders who install them just pick them from product catalogs that omit their intended functions. As a result, only poorly-made “useless” benches that are hard to use for anyone remain. There are benches you can’t lie down on or find troublesome to sit on. So, all of us, including disabled and elderly people, have pieces of our hearts chipped away without even realizing it.”