In Kurashiki City, the sightseeing train “Himawari-go” has operated every year since 1985, taking people with disabilities, medical and welfare professionals, and volunteers on a day trip together aboard a chartered train. (Some years were canceled due to the effects of measures to prevent the spread of novel influenza and COVID-19.)
In 2025, it is scheduled to depart JR Kurashiki Station on Sunday, May 25, and run to Onomichi Station in Hiroshima Prefecture. On the day, one to three volunteers will accompany each participant with a disability on the trip.
Applications are now open for participants with disabilities and volunteers for the Kurashiki Himawari-go Trip to Onomichi.
The application deadlines are as follows:
・Participants with disabilities: Tuesday, April 15
・Volunteers: Wednesday, April 30
- What preparations are underway for the trip?
- What are the purpose and activities of Himawari-go?
- How can you apply?
We introduce the advance site inspection and an interview with the Himawari-go office.
The information provided was current when this article was published in April 2025. Please note that it may differ from current information.
What is the “Kurashiki Himawari-go Trip to Onomichi”?
Himawari-go is a chartered group train exclusively for people with disabilities, which began in Tokyo in 1982.
At the time, accessibility on trains and at stations was not as widespread as it is today, and people with disabilities faced many difficulties when traveling by train.
Against this backdrop, people with disabilities, their families, volunteers, and labor unions took the lead in launching Himawari-go services, which then spread nationwide. In Kurashiki City, the first Himawari-go train ran between JR Kurashiki Station and Hiroshima Station in 1985.
In 2024, the Kurashiki Himawari-go headed to Himeji Station in Hyogo Prefecture. This year, its 38th run, it will head to Onomichi City in Hiroshima Prefecture.
How to apply to ride
For the number of participants, operating schedule, participation fee, application method, and application deadline for the Kurashiki Himawari-go Trip to Onomichi, please check the image below.
To participate as a person with a disability, you must live in Kurashiki City or nearby and hold one of the following disability certificates.
- Physical Disability Certificate
- Rehabilitation Certificate
- Mental Disability Certificate
The volunteer roles being recruited are as follows:
- Assistance volunteers
Spend the day enjoying the trip with wheelchair users or people with visual impairments - Setup volunteers
Set up temporary toilets, beds, and diaper-changing areas on the train. Participation is required from early morning until the end. - Recreation volunteers
Create a fun and relaxed atmosphere through recreational activities you are good at, such as singing, ventriloquism, puppet shows, and kamishibai storytelling - Documentation volunteers
Take photos and otherwise record the day, then compile them into a record book afterward
Volunteers with no prior experience are very welcome. Children in Grade 4 or above can volunteer with a parent or guardian. (To participate alone, you must be a junior high school student or older.)
Before the trip, a volunteer training session will also be held at Kurashiki Health and Welfare Plaza, Room 201, from 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6, 2025 (national holiday), for about two hours. It is recommended because you can learn wheelchair assistance and sighted-guide support in a hands-on way.
Interview with the Kurashiki Executive Committee that runs “Himawari-go”
We interviewed Nishio Takahiro, chair of the Executive Committee for Running Kurashiki Himawari-go, about the Kurashiki Himawari-go Trip to Onomichi.
What kind of initiative is “Kurashiki Himawari-go”?
Nishio (honorific omitted)
It is a chartered train trip where people with a range of disabilities, regardless of disability type, and volunteers travel together.
Himawari-go services began in Kurashiki in 1985, and 2025 marks the 38th trip.
Thankfully, the number of people hoping to participate exceeds capacity every year, so participants are selected by lottery.
I feel very sorry for those who are not selected.
Our experienced committee members repeatedly visit the sites themselves to inspect them, and medical staff also accompany the trip, so we hope families of participants with disabilities will feel comfortable sending their loved ones off.
Kurashiki Himawari-go has also been featured in the media, including a special program produced by OHK Okayama Broadcasting. We actively make use of accessibility facilities at tourist destinations together with volunteers, and hope this can also offer ideas for independent travel to people with disabilities.
What kinds of disabilities do the participants have?
Nishio
As stated in the application guidelines, anyone who holds a disability certificate—whether a Physical Disability Certificate, Rehabilitation Certificate, or Mental Disability Certificate—can participate.
The largest group is people with physical disabilities who use wheelchairs. People with visual, hearing, intellectual, and mental disabilities also participate in roughly equal numbers.
The Act for Eliminating Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities was revised in April 2024, making the provision of reasonable accommodation mandatory for businesses as well.
Kurashiki Himawari-go is no exception.
We are making preparations so that assistance volunteers suited to each person’s specific disability can be assigned.
You’re going to Onomichi in 2025, right?
Nishio
It will be eight years since Kurashiki Himawari-go last visited Onomichi, in 2017.
The weather in Onomichi is pleasant in May, and once you cross the slopes of Senkoji Temple, you can see the distinctive scenery of the Onomichi Channel, which is neither a river nor the open sea.
I hope people will experience the beauty of the Onomichi Channel in person, rather than through photos or a screen.
There are steep slopes in Senkoji Park.
On slopes like these, students from the rugby club at Onomichi High School, part of Onomichi Gakuen, volunteer to push wheelchairs.
The members of the Onomichi High School rugby club also helped us on the previous Kurashiki Himawari-go Trip to Onomichi.
A distinctive feature of the Kurashiki Himawari-go trip is that volunteers welcome participants at the destination, in addition to those who travel with them from Kurashiki.
Are there any spots in Onomichi that you recommend?
Nishio
We able-bodied people tend to think that when we go on a trip, we want to visit tourist attractions.
But after the trip, it seems that both people with disabilities and volunteers remember experiences of connecting with people, such as the following:
- Traveling together by train
- Planning a walking route while communicating with the other members of the team
- Memories of spending the day with the other members of the team
In other words, wherever the destination may be, “riding Himawari-go” itself is actually the main event of the trip.
That said, we want participants to have a variety of experiences each year, so the committee works hard to choose the destinations.
This time, the bus departing from Senkoji Park, where we’ll eat our boxed lunches, will stop at Onomichi City Hall.
The rooftop of Onomichi City Hall offers not only a sweeping view of the Onomichi Channel, but also views of Senkoji Park and its observation deck.
I hope you’ll make a point of going up to the rooftop of Onomichi City Hall, where you can enjoy both the mountains and the sea.
You recruit a lot of volunteers, too, don’t you?
Nishio
For each participant with a disability, we have about two volunteer assistants, as well as volunteers in various other roles, ride along with us.
That way, we hope families who work hard caring for their loved ones every day can entrust them to us with peace of mind and enjoy a relaxing day off.
These days, there are paid volunteer opportunities, but since the Kurashiki Himawari-go was founded, we have charged volunteers and participants with disabilities the same participation fee.
That’s because volunteers who take part in the Kurashiki Himawari-go can learn many things from participants with disabilities. We believe that all participants are members of an inclusive society, regardless of whether they have a disability.
Some participants with disabilities are surprised and say, “Volunteers have to pay a participation fee, too?!” But we want them to understand that a day spent interacting directly with people with disabilities is valuable.
What would you like participants to take away from the experience?
Nishio
For volunteers taking part for the first time, I’d like them to experience firsthand the “world in which people with disabilities live,” something they may not have known about before. We offer volunteer workshops, and many people, including members of the organizing committee, have years of experience participating, so I hope they’ll take this opportunity to step forward and try something new.
For volunteers who participate regularly, both the destination and the needs of the person they assist change each time, so they’re sure to have a different experience from the previous trip.
We want families of people with disabilities to be able to see them off with peace of mind.
That’s because when people with disabilities go out and travel, their actual use of accessibility features on public transportation and at tourist facilities helps create universally accessible communities.
I believe that travel by people with disabilities is itself a wonderful form of contribution to society.
The entire organizing committee will work hard to prepare for a day that both volunteers and people with disabilities will remember as “fun.”
Do you have a message for our readers?
Nishio
People with disabilities live far more resiliently than we imagine. Why not experience that firsthand?
We look forward to meeting everyone who would like to spend a fulfilling day on this trip to Onomichi with the Kurashiki Himawari-go, where volunteers and people with disabilities travel together—a true gateway to an inclusive society.
From the Writer
In 2024, I also took part in the 37th Himawari-go trip, to Himeji, as a volunteer with a hearing disability.
The participants, some of whom were a little nervous on the train ride there, gradually warmed up to one another. On the way back, we parted at JR Kurashiki Station, reluctant to say goodbye. Every photo was filled with the participants’ smiles.
Onomichi is a city where accessibility is continually improving, with a multifunctional accessible restroom in the middle of the shopping street and a wheelchair lift on the ropeway to Senkoji Park, so I think people with disabilities can take part with peace of mind.
Why not spend a day filled with mountains, the Onomichi Channel, and smiles on the Kurashiki Himawari-go trip to Onomichi?
Kurashiki Himawari-go Trip to Onomichi Information
| Name | Kurashiki Himawari-go Trip to Onomichi |
|---|---|
| Date | Sunday, May 25, 2025 Around 8:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. |
| Location | Between Kurashiki and Onomichi |
| Participation fee (tax included) | Adults: ¥3,000 Elementary, junior high, high school, and university students: ¥2,000 (Includes JR fare, facility admission, boxed lunch, and insurance) |
| Website | Kurashiki Himawari-go Organizing Committee |
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