Seeking advice on studying in Japan and long-term stay as a wheelchair user

4 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

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   **Seeking advice on studying in Japan and long-term stay as a wheelchair user**

   Hello everyone,

   I’ve been contemplating a significant change in my life lately and I am turning to this wonderful community for guidance and advice. I am planning to move to Japan to learn the language at a language school for a year or two, and then hopefully stay on to attend college and work. This has been a long-cherished dream of mine.

   However, there is a major factor that adds a layer of complexity to this plan. I am a person with a disability and use a wheelchair for mobility. This obviously raises several questions and concerns about accessibility and support systems that I need to address before I can make this move.

   Primarily, I would like to know how feasible my plan is, considering my situation. How accessible are language schools, colleges, and workplaces in Japan? Are there any specific schools or cities that are particularly well-equipped for wheelchair users?

   Also, I am curious about the availability of personal assistants in Japan. Would it be possible to hire an full time assistant to help me with daily tasks? If so, are there any organizations or services that provide such help? Would such assistance be paid or unpaid, and what kind of costs should I expect for such a service?

   Furthermore, any information about accessible housing, public transportation, and general social attitudes towards people with disabilities in Japan would be immensely helpful.Lastly, if there are any other wheelchair users in this community who have lived or studied in Japan, your insights would be particularly valuable. I’d love to hear about your experiences and any advice you might have.

   Thank you in advance for your help!

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2. We’ve discussed living in Japan as a wheelchair user a few times here before. [Searching the subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/search/?q=wheelchair&restrict_sr=1) will bring some of those other discussions up.

   To answer your specific questions:

   >How accessible are language schools, colleges, and workplaces in Japan?

   It varies tremendously, ranging from “Fully accessible” to “I hope you like stairs”. The median seems to be something like “You can live normally, but you’ll have to go out of your way a few times a day to get things done”

   >Are there any specific schools or cities that are particularly well-equipped for wheelchair users?

   Can’t speak to specific schools, but *in general* Tokyo is probably most accessible just because it has been rebuilt so much. And because it’s *Tokyo*, so there are more options and thus more chances to find something that suits your needs.

   >Would it be possible to hire an full time assistant to help me with daily tasks?

   Probably? Caregiving is a booming business here.

   >If so, are there any organizations or services that provide such help?

   Any such organizations would be fairly local, so it’s something to add to your research list when you’re deciding where to go to school and/or live.

   >Would such assistance be paid or unpaid

   You should expect to pay out of pocket for it.

   >any information about accessible housing

   Finding accessible housing as a foreigner is going to be *very* difficult. It’s a tiny percentage of the market, and when you add the difficulty of finding housing as a foreigner in general it’s going to narrow your options tremendously.

   >public transportation

   This is where my comment about “you’ll have to go out of your way” comes from. Depending on the train line you might ***literally*** need to go out of your way. Many stations are “accessible”, but like accessibility in general the term is applied rather broadly. Many small stations only have a single elevator, so it’s entirely possible that you would need to get on a train going the wrong direction (because that’s the only platform that’s “accessible”), go one or more stations, get off at a station that is more accessible, and then finally get on the train you actually wanted originally.

3. I would suggest first taking a trip to Japan with a family member or someone to better understand the environment and complexities before making a full on move. It’s all possible but to get the appropriate help or assistance to live comfortably day to day might require some decent Japanese as well.

   I can say that ISI Language School in Takadanobaba, Tokyo building can support wheelchair users based on what I saw but some of the corners and hallways are a bit tight. I’d visit schools that you’re interested in to find out first hand tbh before fully committing.

4. I’m not very knowledgeable about this topic but I’ve been following these two content creators (Martina from eyk studio and Annika Victoria) for a couple of years. They both live in Japan and require aids. Here are two of their videos where they talk about mobility aids I hope could be helpful to you;

   https://youtu.be/GIWEBq1dSho

   https://youtu.be/JlUJ1fLPxnU

   Best of luck on your search! 🩵