Disabled drivers Blue Badge

[MalcolmF]

If I take my blue badge with me can I use it for disabled parking, if I hire a car to carry a hired wheelchair

Discussion

[accessible-japan]

Hello,

Just to confirm, we are talking about one from the UK, like this?

[MalcolmF]

Yes sorry I’m in the UK I should of said that

[accessible-japan]

Thanks for clarifying. According to this website, there aren’t any agreements to honour the badge outside of Europe. So, that is the official answer.

The unofficial answer is that accessible parking isn’t really enforced here, so if it is a parking lot, there should be no problem displaying your badge when parking in the disabled parking spot. However, any perks like discounts on toll roads or being allowed to park in areas in non-parking areas will not be observed without a proper Japanese permit.

So, bringing your badge and using it in a parking lot can help, but you cannot expect any protection from parking laws.

[josh]

Echoing the “parking isn’t really enforced” idea, if you rent an accessible car, they often have a disabled sticker on them and that can be enough.

I don’t have a car and therefore no Japanese version of the Blue Badge, but have rented accessible cars several times – including last weekend. Even with no badge and just the sticker on the car, I parked in many disabled parking spots with zero problems.

This might be of interest:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2017/02/05/how-tos/no-free-ride-foreign-drivers-disabilities-japans-expressways/

It seems to confirm that parking lots are included, but not toll roads. Not sure if there has been an update or not.

[MalcolmF]

Thanks A-J for clarifying that I thought that be case of no reciprocal rights outside of Europe which we may lose as well because of brexit we may lose all reciprocal rights that we have

[MalcolmF]

Thanks Josh for that I will have a read of that file thanks for the help

[josh]

No problem. I’m on a gov committee and a number of people have asked the government to increase awareness of disabled parking use, which again shows it isn’t really enforced at the moment. So you shouldn’t have an issue if a space is available and you want to use it with your UK badge.

[MalcolmF]

Hi Josh
Can I ask where you hire the accessible cars from and is it all over Japan or just in the major cities like Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and the like as I’ve never found any in my searches, as I would like to hire something along the line of a Kei Camper if I could so I’m not stuck in one place

[josh]

They are becoming much more common, but often require contacting the dealer directly. So, speaking Japanese will definitely be needed.

Try searching for: 福祉車両 レンタカー

You should also try in the Japan discussion on TabiFolk:

https://www.tabifolk.com/groups/japan/forum/destinations/asia/japan-discussions/

[Suspended Member]

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[MalcolmF]

Thanks watsonanna but I don’t think they would come all the way from Palm Beach to the North East of England 😅 but thank you for your suggestion

Malcolm

[grant]

Hello, I just wanted to say that your UK Blue Card is in fact valid in Japan. I posted somewhere here I think a few years ago about this exact thing.

The ITF (International Transport Forum) is part of the OECD and it basically states that their 63 member countries have to “grant the same parking concessions to people with disabilities as they offered their own nationals”. You can read more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Transport_Forum and here: https://www.itf-oecd.org/reciprocal-recognition-parking-badges

I have an Australian disabled parking permit and since the 90’s, we usually spend about one month a year in Japan exploring by rail and by car (except for covid!) and on the very few occasions that I have been questioned, (police included), I simply explain the situation and no one had a problem.

[MalcolmF]

Hi Grant

Thanks for the info that is great to to, mind I don’t think I’m going to be getting there any time soon the way things seem to be going

Malcolm

[accessible-japan]

Hello,

This is just to let you know that we have moved our community to TabiFolk. If you have any questions or information about visiting/living/studying in Japan, please ask in the Japan group!

https://www.tabifolk.com/groups/japan/forum/destinations/asia/japan-discussions/

[Author]

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