Japan makes moves to deregulate usage of electric scooters and delivery robots
Currently, electric kickboards are classified as motorized bicycles, which can only be ridden on roads and require a driver’s license.
Category: Travel
Disabled passengers in Japan left disconnected in age of digital smart card use
An advocacy group that supports disabled residents in Chiba, east of Tokyo, says the lack of smart cards with discount fares for disabled residents and carers on any lines in the Kanto region adds significantly to travel time.
Being refused boarding on Japan Railway trains debate: Wheelchair using comedian Hawking Aoyama sees it this way
“I think that if you use a method like exercising your strength, it will not be understood by people with disabilities, but it will not lead to repulsion. Is it really good for other people with disabilities?”
Wheelchair user describes being denied access to JR train, faces backlash for being ‘selfish’
In a recent blog post entitled ‘Wheelchairs were denied boarding at JR’, the disability activist and writer, Natsuko Izena describes not being allowed to board a JR station, something that she describes as “a common occurrence for wheelchair users in this day and age.”
A new service in Nagano for wheelchairs and caregivers for people with disabilities
The voluntary organization “Minami Shinshu Outing Team” With “” created by the Achi Hirugami Tourist Bureau in Chisato Achi Village and “Kafune Nursing” in the north of Iida City rents and assists wheelchairs equipped with the towing assistance device “JINRIKI”.
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.
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.
Japan’s ‘Disability Certificate’ goes digital
The so-called “digital disability certificate”, which is equipped with information on the disability certificate on smartphones, became available for use on JR and private railways nationwide from the 13th.
JR Tokaido ‘bullet trains’ to increase wheelchair spaces from two to six
JR Tokai will increase the number of spaces for wheelchairs on its Shinkansen or ‘bullet trains’ from two to six spaces.
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.
Barrier Free Japan 