I (21 male) want to go to Japan one day, I’ve done my research and know it’s not like the anime we see on television. I was just wondering how the culture handles people with disabilities? Is there a lot of stigma and is it safe? Does it depend on the area your in? Any help would be much appreciated.
Edit: Feel free to answer the questions regardless of the type of disability, just want this to a space for everyone.
Personally,for me the physical aspect is I have a lazy eye, am really nearsighted so my eyes look really small with my glasses and I have slight deformities like none painful scoliosis and long arms (which at I’m in proportion with being 6’3).
The mental aspect(not so sure if this will carry any weight) I’ve been told I can’t read the room sometimes and I just have a basic reading comprehension issues where I have to things two or three times.
12 comments
You don’t state your disability, so sorry if some of this is not relevant to you.
The culture is not to say anything to you. Japanese folks are very polite and welcoming and will not shun you or look at you badly, depending on your disability. The streets and shops are somewhat friendly to individuals with hearing and sight issues (auditory street warnings for crossings, trains are announced, walking strips in streets to assist with walking) BUT the country is not wheelchair friendly. I cannot stress that enough. You can travel there with one but you are going to be very very limited on where you can go and you won’t be able to enter or exit at certain stations, for example. If your disability is more that you get tired easily, there are not many benches around or places to sit, so I would recommend budgeting some extra money to rest in a cafe as needed.
I love Japan, but as a disabled person myself (chronic illnesses) it is definitely not disability friendly in any sense. I lived there for half a year and actually had to quit my job because it was too demanding on my body. What summed it up for me was reading about several autistic people being murdered in a home and their families wouldn’t release their names because they didn’t want to be associated with them…it’s still considered shameful to many people. I used a wheelchair at the zoo in Tokyo and felt a lot of people staring at me. It’s safe, but definitely uncomfortable. The more rural areas are even further behind in terms of accessibility.
>The mental aspect I’ve been told I can’t read the room sometimes and I just have a basic reading comprehension issues
Don’t worry, they assume that about all of us.
not sure how much this will help but… https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2301.html
Giving a general answer to a broad question is quite difficult. To start with, the challenges of living in Japan are quite different than the challenges for a tourist. And same is true depending on your disability, the answer will be extremely different if you are in a wheelchair compared to if you are blind or have are in a situation that require medication (as some require authorization to bring and other are simply illegal).
From what you said about yourself, if you go as a tourist (as you ask in a tourism sub), there is little to worry about, Japanese people are really welcoming. You might look different than other people and it might attract the attention, but that can also be true of different physical characteristic less common in Japan such as being tall or overweight, that might attract more look… and just visibly being a foreigner can already attract more attention (obviously, when you go where tourist typically do not go, you can find much more reaction)
As for the mental aspect, nothing that you said should be much of a problem. Yes, being able to read the room might be more important if you live in Japan and if you have a friend circle and a job. But when visiting, it is not as important, you should not worry too much as anyway, you might technically make small mistakes as the culture and customs are different. Going to Japan, about everybody will have problems reading and it can take more time to understand how things work… like because not everything is in English.
I don’t know if I’d really classify those as disability’s that you would have to worry about truthfully atleast nowhere I’ve been in the world
Annoying absolutely my eyes are the same but opposite. +9.5 +.7.25 are my contacts so i get it and im mildly autistic but in most countries unless there is a clear problem that visible you will have no issue. Even in most places you’ll be fine regardless but with your issues only being noticeable if someone tells you (besides glasses but a ton of people have glasses)
I hope uou are not self conscious or struggle and you’ll cna do anything that you put your mind to.
Much love
When I was on a study abroad program in Japan (this was back in 2007), there was a girl in our program with a lazy eye. She was in a different class than me, so we never really hung out outside of the dormitory common area because we had a different groups of friends (b/c of being in different classes). But, as far as I recall, no one cared. No one (there were maybe 50 students in the program) made fun of her and I never heard of her having any problems with shopping or doing touristy stuff.
It’s not disability friendly at all.
I’ve previously lived in japan…it really depends on the disability.
I find noticeable physical deformities will usually have people avoid you however if your a foreigner and look like a foreigner then people might be more accepting.
As for getting around the major cities are okay however getting to some of the smaller areas can be difficult to get around mainly due to uneven surfaces or limited access points however more talking about wheelchair level here…
Keep in mind language is usually a barrier for most people travelling to japan this might be exacerbated with you condition possibly. Whilst most Japanese are kind and patient they can only help so much before they will give up.
I went in a wheelchair on my first trip. No problems other than stairs at stations. When I didn’t use the chair, I kept getting told to move on when I needed to sit down for a while on the ground. They don’t have seats around.
In terms of safety you shouldnt face any problems. Japanese people tend to keep to themselves and wont go looking for trouble. They’re far more likely to just ignore your existence than to actively harass you. You would have to be seriously unlucky to run into any asshole hooligans who would wanna start shit with you.
In terms of stigma… well like I said they will tend to keep to themselves, but you may also receive some silent judgy looks, or some people may like move away from you wheb you get on the train if you look ‘weird’ to them.
Although conversely you may also get well treated depending on where you are. I find that many Japanese people are generally polite to old and disabled people, like giving them a seat on the train, giving way to them, etc. So they may look out for you if you look like you’re struggling. Tbh its hard to advise without knowing fully clearly what your disability is and how much you would stand out.
Im also not sure how bad your scoliosis is, but travelling in Japan tends to involve a lot of walking. The train and metro system is superbly well connected, but most of the tourist.spots are located or exist such that they require alot of walking. And keep in mind that many areas, ibcluding the train stations, are horribly designed with many stairs and no elevators, so take care when travelling up and down.
This may or may not be helpful for you. But in case you havnt checked out this site yet.
[accessible Japan](https://www.accessible-japan.com)