I Broke My Foot in Japan: How Accessible is Tokyo?

Resources if you or someone you know is disabled and wants to visit Japan:

Useful Phrases:

＿＿＿駅までに行きたいです。
_____eki made ni ikitai desu.
I want to go to ___ station.

車椅子スペースのあるの車両をお願いします。
kuruma isu supēsu no aru no sharyou o onegaishimasu.
I would like a train car with a wheelchair space please.

エレベータはどこですか。
erebēta wa doko desu ka
Where is the elevator?

バリアフリートイレはどこですか。
baria furii toire wa doko desu ka
Where is the disabled toilet?

Accessibility in Japan website! (helps with finding hotels and attractions. Made by Josh Grisdale)

Playlist of accessible areas and experiences in Tokyo

English friendly wheelchair rental site names:
Ido-support (cheapest)
Wheelchair Tokyo
NGT

Wheelog app:

Personal Links:

For business & sponsorship enquiries only:

Outro Song:
Collapse - Love

Music from epidemic sound

Cafe Bossa - Riverworn
Mint Conditions - Dusty Decks

0:00 - 2:08 Intro
2:08 - 2:59 What Happened?
2:59 - 5:09 The Kyoto Hospital
5:09 - 9:08 The Shinkansen
9:08 - 10:38 1st Clinic
10:38 - 14:19 Home & knee scooter
14:19 - 16:18 Wheelchair rental
16:18 - 17:17 2nd Clinic
17:17 - 20:10 Riding the trains
20:10 - 22:52 Useful app & general accessibility
22:52 - 28:45 My experience in the chair
28:45 - 30:33 New years & pavement
30:33 - 32:45 Not nice situations
32:45 - 34:51 New respect, bathrooms, guilt
34:51 - 36:07 Summary
36:07 - 38:32 Where i am at now
38:32 - 38:52 Outro

[Val_so_Kord]

This is a reminder that anyone can join the disabled community at any time. All humans deserve respect and access. A lot of the world is not disability accessible, so many places are bared by stairs, really steep ones in a lot of cases. Some places in the world disabled people just don't leave their homes because they just can't. They become invisible, forgotten and its wrong. Disability access only makes things better for everyone. Even able-bodied people benefit from good disability access.

[BBB_]

It took me awhile to watch this video since I assumed it was not relevant to me.
Having watched the entire video now, I can see it is absolutely relevant since I am a volunteer ski coach that works with disabled skiers.

I want to thank you for putting so much effort into this video, it is an excellent resource for how to interact and work with people with a disability.

[elscorten]

Oh dear Emma, thank you for the info, hope you are feeling better now.

[susanh]

I found this post to be very interesting. I fractured my ankle 2.5 months ago. I had the damage surgically repaired and have been wondering how long it will take before I am back to normal. I still have swelling and on days when I am on my feet for an extended period of time, I am finding that the swelling is pretty bad and I need to keep my foot elevated. Your post indicating that it may take me 7 months before I am pain- free has given me some guidance. I hope that you completely heal soon.

[SaschaBB]

Thank you very much for sharing your experience. I do sit in a wheelchair for nearly 30 years now and find it always very interesting to hear "newcomers" experiences. You mentioned there is mostly "only" one elevator at each station. Did you experience any defect ones as well? In Germany I am glad to see an elevator at a station but they are broken many times when I want to travel

[linhtrinh]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I start to worry now because we will take our sons to Japan, 1 on manual wheelchair & the other one uses a walker. It will be a big challenges for us.

[Cujo]

Wow you've been on quite the adventure!

[Jessicaemilyhammond]

I am a disability support worker and currently helping a client with disabilities plan his dream holiday to Japan. This is a super helpful and informative video 🤍🤍

[lukekao]

The "hot baths" is wrong advice, you should have elevated your leg and iced your ankle to decrease the swelling for about 10 to 15 minutes. Hope that helps. (for future reference). :)

[acesnoddy]

As an American hearing "it's gonna be super expensive" and seeing a number less then $500 is insane. Like 70 bucks for a ct is unthinkable in the US (they're normally $400-$3, 000 depending on the area and insurance)

[lukekao]

Your friends get fustrated then push you down the stairs. LOL.

[han-cs]

The sinks are for a new Mother carrying a baby.There is a folding bed to change the diaper, sink to wash the butt omg...In your right there is baby chair attached to wall secure the Baby while the new Mother using the the toilet.Some disable Person using diapers or medical equipment attache to the body and wash it to the bigger sink and they use the bed too...Love your post there is a disable Person toiler too on Bullet Train.

[lukekao]

A lot of places in America isn't ADA (American with disabilities) either. Shrug.

[jj-ifit]

Yeah $94 AUD really isn't that bad

[joshdholsinger]

3:44 66 bucks out of pocket ROLTFLMAO yeah I live in America

[uriahhozhenhao]

hold up 64usd for CT scan? thats expensives?

[Cyhcguhgb]

I saw Tokyo and wheel chair and my first thought was

Tokyo is luckily not as bad as some other cities, but it is still reaaally NOT build with accessibility in mind

[ryanwerden]

Sorry if this is rude, but as an American, with mediocre health insurance who has $60 copays and coinsurance on top of that describing a $66 CT scan as super expensive is hilarious 😂 ... But seriously our healthcare system is a problem