Japan’s infrastructure ministry plans to create a nationwide rule requiring that 0.5 pct of seats at sports venues and theaters be reserved for wheelchair users.
The central government’s move comes after many local governments have set their own wheelchair space requirements of 0.5 pct or more.
Barrier Free Japan is hopefully off to Tokyo by the time this podcast episode drops, or in the language of Douglas Adams, ‘will and have been’ to Tokyo, weather permitting on Sunday 25th February 2024, to see the film about the late Mark Bookman.
NHK reports that life begins to return to normal in Ishikawa Prefecture after the earthquake on January 1st 2024 and it seems that Barrier Free Japan will get to go to Tokyo and see the film about Mark Bookman!
Recent reports made by Japan’s Ministry of Infrastructure, Land and Transport regarding the elderly and people with disabilities are arguably a kind of good news/bad news situation.
TokiAir, an airline that began service last month, posted information on its website for passengers. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT) pointed out that some expressions on the website could be misinterpreted as requiring disabled persons to be accompanied by an escort on a uniform basis. In response, the company changed the content and commented that it did not intend to discriminate.
Before he died, Mark was working on a new project with an organization that would help organizations such as governments & businesses include people with disabilities called ‘GLIDE’ or ‘Global Leaders in International Disability Education’. The documentary “Mark – A Call to Action” produced by GLIDE will premiere in February 2024 in Tokyo.
Registration application form to attend the premiere in Tokyo in February 2024: https://woobox.com/cg5e8w?fbclid=IwAR27Kqy-ObiWOJ1rhGEYDckuAqwbcVUWYIJK0YPngV4BrjoTZPBSUYf_PRM
GLIDE: https://www.glidefund.org
The team, led by Ms. Misuzu Hojo, 31, who herself is visually impaired, has devised a makeup method using the fingers of both hands and has been spreading the method through lectures. At a ceremony held in Tokyo on January 29th Ms. Hojo expressed her dream: “In the future, I would like to hold a fashion show where visually impaired people who put on their own makeup can stand on stage and enjoy the show, even if they are blind or have difficulty seeing.”
The photograph was taken at my local train station in Kobe. The station itself is quite accessible to a person with disabilities like myself. However, there is one small problem when one enters the station, because those who enter the station, enter what I like to call an ‘empire of QR codes’.
‘But isn’t that ok, maybe even accessible’ I hear you say? But, I find it difficult to hold my body still for a lengthy period of time because it spasms, it took me more than ten minutes to take this photo, imagine how much time it would take for me to scan a QR code.
The photograph shows my local train station in Kobe. The station itself is quite accessible to a person with disabilities like myself. However, there is one small problem when one enters the station, because those who enter the station, enter what I like to call an ‘empire of QR codes’. ‘But isn’t that ok, maybe even accessible’ I hear you say? But, I find it difficult to hold my body still for a lengthy period of time because it spasms, it took me more than ten minutes to take this photo, imagine how much time it would take for me to scan a QR code.
For a break from ‘earthquake news’, Barrier Free Japan talks about the prevalence of ‘QR codes’ at train stations in Japan and how this might affect accessibility.
The question is, will the increasing use of QR codes make it more difficult for some in Japan to use the railway?
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