Category: Blind

by Michael Gillan Peckitt April 7, 2021 Number of comments0
Barrier Free Blind Disability Japan Travel

Hyogo Prefecture city produces CD explaining how to use JR platform fences to visually impaired people

The City of Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, has produced a CD teaching material to help the visually impaired learn about the platform fences installed at JR Akashi Station and other stations. The CD explains the procedure of walking through the station with a visually impaired person and getting on a train. It also includes an interview with a JR West employee and his impressions of the platform fence.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt March 17, 2021 Number of comments0
Blind Disability Japan Travel

Visually impaired group representatives test new JR ticket vending machine

A study session was held at JR Kanazawa Station on the 16th to verify issues so that visually impaired people can use ticket vending machines smoothly. Yoshifumi Yoneshima (68), the chairman of the Ishikawa Association for the Visually Impaired, and helpers experienced purchasing a ticket using a new ticket vending machine installed on the premises in December last year.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt March 1, 2021 Number of comments0
Blind Disability Japan Travel

Tobu Railway considers measures to improve safety for people with visual impairments after falling incidents

In an accident where a visually impaired man fell from a platform and died at a station on the Tobu Tojo Line in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, Tobu Railway thoroughly spoke to visually impaired people and turned the edge of the platform red for the time being. The railway have decided to take measures such as calling attention to people with impaired vision.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt January 19, 2021 Number of comments0
Blind Braille Disability Japan Travel

Safety guidance for visually impaired people using QR to be introduced at Tokyo Metro 5 stations

Tokyo Metro announced on the 18th that it has developed a system that guides the visually impaired people safely in a station by reading a QR code on the Braille block with the camera of the smartphone and guiding the direction and distance by voice. It will be introduced at 5 stations in Tokyo from the 27th.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt January 18, 2021 Number of comments0
Blind Disability Education Japan

Mistake made in Japan’s National University exam for the visually impaired

The National Center for University Entrance Examinations announced on the 17th and 16th that there was a mistake in the question booklet prepared for the visually impaired in the public examination of the common university entrance test. There is a special question booklet with enlarged letters, and two students nationwide used it. There were no mistakes in the questions in the regular booklet.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt December 31, 2020 Number of comments0
Barrier Free Blind Japan Travel

Survey conducted by Japanese newspaper reveals 80% of traffic signals to aid the blind turned off due to noise complaints

A survey conducted by the Japanese newspaper The Mainichi Shimbun that more than 80% of Japan’s accessible pedestrian signals, traffic lights that also produce sounds to let pedestrians with visual impairments know when it’s safe to cross the road, have their noise-making function muted for at least part of the day, the newspaper’s survey of the country’s 47 prefectural police forces has found.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt November 29, 2020 Number of comments0
Barrier Free Blind Disability Japan Travel

“A platform door was installed at the station to prevent falling, but the door remained open”: Visually impaired man falls and dies at Toyocho Station

Around 12:45 on the afternoon of 29th November, a man fell from his platform at Toyocho Station on the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line in Toyo 4, Koto-ku, Tokyo, and collided with a train (10-car train) from Nakano to Nishi-Funabashi. The man, believed to be visually impaired in his 60s living in Edogawa Ward, was taken to a hospital, but was soon confirmed dead. A platform door was installed at the station to prevent it from falling, but the door remained open before the start of operation.