How we started

If you are looking at this website, then we likely have something in common – disability.  Accessible Japan (アクセシブルジャパン) came into being from a combination of both good and bad experiences of traveling in a wheelchair.  The creator, Josh Grisdale (グリズデイル バリージョシュア), has extensive travel experience with an electric wheelchair.  An adventurer at heart, he hates to hear “impossible” and relentlessly ventures forth… but he is a worrywart at heart and likes to gather as much information as humanly possible beforehand.

And he hates surprises.

Frustrated with little to no information about accessibility on websites, or hotels not allowing accessible rooms to be booked online and requiring long phone calls he decided to create this site.

What we do

Accessible Japan exists to provide readers with as much information as possible so that they can make informed decisions based on their unique needs when planning their vacation to Japan.

In addition to the general information pages, Accessible Japan offers a database of hotels listing accessible rooms, detailed reviews of tourist attractions, suggested day tours that are wheelchair accessible, and a blog full of travelers’ stories and other items of interest for travelers with disabilities.

For those who need to rent a hoist or a wheelchair, we can help facilitate your rental through local rental companies. Please contact us through our rental form.

To take our tips with you, we have published an accessible travel guide to Tokyo available on Amazon and iBooks. We can also answer your questions about accessibility in Japan by email or social media.

Have a question? Want to share information?

Whether you want specifics about a hotel, need information on a tourist spot, or just want to know how the weather is in Tokyo, we’d love to hear from you!

We run a forum on the TabiFolk, as well as a forum here on Accessible Japan. So you can get in touch with us and ask your questions as well as help others out by sharing what you have found. We will get back to you ASAP – often within 24hrs! 

We are always looking for the latest information to share with our readers, but Japan is a huge country and we can’t do it alone. If you could help in any way listed below, we would be ecstatic!

  • Pictures of accessibility features at tourist attractions
  • Locations of toilets, etc at tourist attractions
  • Updates/corrections for our currently listed information
  • A report about your experience
  • Reviews of hotels and attractions
  • Additional pictures or information for listed hotels and attractions
  • etc

Share your story

There are as many variations of disabilities in this world as there are places to visit in Japan. Combining these creates an infinite number of stories. Would you like to share yours?

At Accessible Japan we want to help as many people as we can to enjoy a memorable experience in Japan. However, there are so many perspectives and no amount of research can replace a story. If you have been to Japan and you have a disability, would you consider writing a guest blog post to share about it? It could be your favorite accessible sushi restaurant in Tokyo, or sensing Japan as a person with autism, or maybe… well, you likely have more ideas than we do!

Please get in touch via social media (see below) or posting in the forum.

Follow us!

We are very active on social media and would love to interact with you there as well:

Colorful speech bubbles with various emoji faces ask about accessible travel in Japan. Text invites taking a survey.

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