Friend is coming to visit on a wheelchair but I don’t have much personal experience with accessibility so I’m wondering how it is realistically for wheelchairs?
In particular Kyoto and Osaka since I haven’t been there enough to know the lay of the land.
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These guys are a great resource: https://www.accessible-japan.com/
Many Tokyo trains stations now have elevators and support for strollers and the disabled in wheelchairs. I had my family come visit in 2019 and it was night and day compared with even just 2015. There will be a ton of restaurants with stairs or difficult access that’ll be off limits, but there will be far more to do than you initially may think.
Can’t speak for Kansai though.
I went to Kyoto with my husband and twins, when we went to shrines we found it really tough and restaurants were small and rejected us at the door too even though they were empty. We found even the pavements (sidewalk) wasn’t accommodating for strollers too.
I can only speak for Tokyo. My sister-in-law who uses a wheelchair visited a few months back. Public transit is arguably the best in the world accessible including buses. She was amazed at how independent she could be. Nearly every train station is completely accessible with elevators. If you tell the bus driver to open the back door, they will take care of everything.
Small shops/restaurants can be an issue but chain stores, malls and major tourist attractions should be fine. She was able to do TeamLab skipping only two rooms and Hakone was pretty good but a little more complicated. Do research everything in advance though so you don’t get stuck. The site listed above is incredible. DM me if you want more specifics.
I have a 1 year old who we take out a fair bit on trains around Osaka. Very very rare to find a station platform that isn’t accessible by elevator and certainly none of the main stations are like that. Sometimes you have to walk a bit extra to find an elevator but that’s about it.
Areas like Osaka Castle, Dotonbori and Umeda are accessible but individual restaurants/shops may vary. Minoo falls might be a nice shout as the path is all paved. Beautiful area. There are a few hills but nothing too steep that I recall.
Kyoto seems like it would be tough if you’re looking to temple hop.
Osaka for transportation is fine. You have elevators everywhere. Some bars may be accessible uniquely by stairs. For the shrines, it will be really depending, and in general for small or unprepared places it will depend more on the type of wheelchair / disability / skills of your friend : a big electric wheelchair will be more problematic than a light one with a people managing 2 wheels moves.
Tokyo is fine, not sure about Osaka, and Kyoto from my family’s brief trip there was a nightmare that actually made me dislike the city so much, I don’t have any intention of ever going back. It was just extremely difficult finding places large enough or accessible enough for those on wheelchairs, and many places had stairs and no elevators or ramps. We spent a lot of time walking around just to find a place to eat and rest. It was beyond frustrating. On the plus side, some temples and shrines are accessible… not a lot, but hey, some… (I don’t quite remember which because I’ve wiped the entire experience from my memory.)
(I apologize for those who love Kyoto. Maybe we would’ve had a better experience if we planned the trip in advance and did more research.)