The Shog-A.I. Shimbun Podcast #36: Rainy Season Days and ‘Hostile Benches’ in Japan

By Barrier Free Japan

June 24 2024

KOBE – 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.”

Episode Notes:

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

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

‘INTERVIEW/ Taro Igarashi: Take a stand on ‘hostile benches’ that exclude disabled people’ (The Asahi Shimbun, June 20th 2024)’:

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15284631