In November last year, 21 students at Ishikawa Prefectural Shika High School went around town, checking out 20 places including hotels and hospitals to assess each facility's accessibility for the disabled.
"It has braille blocks and visually impaired people can walk safely," read one evaluation. "It's too narrow for a wheelchair to pass through," read another.
When the students actually got in a wheelchair themselves or put on a device that simulates the experience of a bent-over person, it opened their eyes to many things. "I'm always looking down," one commented.
With the Tokyo Paralympic Games throwing a spotlight on the problems facing the disabled in society, residents in regional areas are taking the initiative to address the issue by conducting barrier-free inspections of facilities, and working to make it easier to accept travelers with disabilities.
The ultimate goal is to promote universal design, which aims to make all things available to people with disabilities.
"I want our town to be a place where any person from any generation would say, 'I'm glad I came here,'" said Moe Hashimoto, 17, a third-year student at Shika High School.
The town of Shika, which hosted Azerbaijan's Paralympic delegation, registered last year with a universal design program called Host Towns of a Harmonious and Inclusive Society.
The survey by the students was part of the town's effort to promote universal design and noted such items as the number of steps and wheelchair accessibility, with the results posted on Bmaps, a map app that shares barrier-free information.
"The more information that is accumulated on Bmaps, the easier it is [for disabled people] to get around," said an official of an association for disabled people in the town.
In Bmaps, information on about 150,000 facilities nationwide is registered. It can also be applied for universal tourism, which is aimed at making travel more enjoyable for the disabled.
-- Accessibility in starry town
The village of Achi, Nagano Prefecture, promotes itself as a tourist destination with "the best star-filled sky in Japan." From 2019, the privately operated Achi Hirugami Tourism Bureau has offered services such as arranging taxis for those who need assistance and supporting travelers in wheelchairs to spend time by the river or go for a stroll.
There are currently not so many users due to the pandemic, but in anticipation of an end to the health crisis, the village is getting better prepared to accept disabled travelers through such efforts as holding seminars on wheelchair mobility for employees of hotels and ryokan inns.
"We want to be able to meet the needs of people with disabilities no matter where they go," said Akira Muramatsu, secretary general of the bureau.
The Hokkaido District Transport Bureau of the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry, in an effort to deepen understanding of the plight of the disabled using trains and buses, organized school lectures "taught" by Paralympic athletes.
In May, powerlifter Eri Yamamoto gave an online lecture to students at Choyo Elementary School in Kushiro, Hokkaido. Yamamoto, 38, who has been unable to use her legs since birth, told about a life in which even the smallest bump can pose a problem.
"Let's think as a society in general about how [the able-bodies and disabled] can live together," she said.
Ayano Kato, a lecturer at Shinshu University who specializes in sports for the disabled, said change is necessary in many areas.
"The Olympics and Paralympics are events aimed at societal change," she said. "Amid the coronovirus pandemic, people are looking more at outdoor activities. We need to create an environment where everyone can enjoy leisure activities, not just sports."
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