There are many places that may not catch your attention when walking, but are actually inconvenient to get around in a wheelchair.
Perhaps not everyone can enjoy the sights of what appear to be lively tourist destinations.
On November 12, 2023, Kurashiki Wheelchair Town Walk, an event to gather tourism information from the perspective of wheelchair users, was held in the Bikan Historical Area.
Wheelchair users and able-bodied people visit tourist facilities and restaurants in the Bikan Historical Area together, learning through firsthand experience about the support wheelchair users need.
Let’s think together about what we can do to make a society where everyone can be happy, by considering accessibility.
The information provided was accurate when this article was published in December 2023. Please note that it may differ from current information.
What is Kurashiki Wheelchair Town Walk?
What kind of information do wheelchair users need to enjoy sightseeing without worry?
Let’s take another look at tourism from diverse perspectives.
Overview of Kurashiki Wheelchair Town Walk
On November 12, 2023, the event Kurashiki Wheelchair Town Walk was held, in which wheelchair users and able-bodied people visited tourist facilities in the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area together.
The participants did more than walk around town; they also checked the accessibility of tourist facilities and restaurants. The information they gathered will be used to create a tourist map with accessibility information, so wheelchair users can enjoy the Bikan Historical Area.
Accessibility features such as “ramps to bypass steps” and “passageways wide enough for wheelchairs” are important, but they are not the only things to focus on.
Even if an environment is inconvenient for wheelchair users, they can enjoy a meal at a tourist facility or restaurant when staff are on hand to help.
Sharing information about accessibility made possible through consideration for others is also a goal of Kurashiki Wheelchair Town Walk.
Organizer Moriue Miho
Organizer Moriue Miho spent her childhood with her grandmother, who used a wheelchair. Because her grandmother had difficulty walking, she often felt discouraged, and Moriue saw how her grandmother struggled with life in a wheelchair.
After entering the workforce, she worked at a general hospital for five years. She then worked at a long-term care health facility as a physical therapist.
Through her work, she had more opportunities to interact with wheelchair users and began thinking about what accessibility should look like.
Moriue was inspired to start town-walking events with wheelchair users after meeting Miyo Tatsuya, who completed a round-the-world trip in a wheelchair.
Not every city or tourist destination in the world is a place wheelchair users can visit easily.
Miyo completed his round-the-world journey thanks to the hospitality and consideration of the people he met along the way. His words made Moriue realize that improving the environment alone is not enough to achieve accessibility.
So she began sharing accessibility information about tourist facilities and restaurants, mainly in Okayama Prefecture, to help wheelchair users enjoy sightseeing freely.
She shares information with wheelchair users, valuing not only information about facilities but also accessibility made possible by the kindness and thoughtfulness of staff.
Challenges when sightseeing
The internet is full of information about tourist facilities and restaurants, but there is not enough accessibility information to help wheelchair users visit without worry.
Rather than simply claiming to be accessible, specific information is needed to determine whether wheelchair users can get around without difficulty, such as whether there are steps and how wide ramps are.
For wheelchair users, information about accessibility made possible through the consideration of staff at tourist facilities and restaurants is just as important as information about physical accessibility.
Even if there are steps inside a building, wheelchair users can enjoy themselves if staff are considerate and eager to help.
Because specific accessibility information is not included in the information businesses publish online, wheelchair users face the challenge of not being able to tell whether they can visit.
Exploring the Bikan Historical Area in a wheelchair
What kinds of difficulties might you encounter when visiting the Bikan Historical Area in a wheelchair?
Let’s take another look at the Bikan Historical Area from an accessibility perspective.
What is today’s goal?
▼First, organizer Moriue explained what the event would involve.
The goal was to visit tourist facilities and restaurants in the Bikan Historical Area in wheelchairs and gather accessibility information. Importantly, this meant collecting not only information about physical accessibility, but also information about accessibility made possible through staff assistance.
While gathering information as they toured, participants split into three teams and competed to earn the most points, awarded for completing missions.
| Mission | Points (pt) |
|---|---|
| Try the route-tracking feature in the WheeLog! app | 50pt |
| Able-bodied participant tries using a wheelchair | 100pt |
| Enter a shop | 50pt |
| Ask a tourist to take a group photo | 50pt |
| Visit the Ohara Museum of Art, visit Ohara House Katalyzer, or try a rickshaw ride | 200pt |
| Ask an overseas tourist about accessibility in their home country | 200pt |
Several missions were not easy for wheelchair users to complete. The participants explored the Bikan Historical Area while enjoying the game of completing missions.
WheeLog! is an accessibility map app where people share accessibility information for wheelchair users, stroller users, people who walk with canes, and others.
Users can add information about accessibility at tourist facilities and restaurants shown on the map, sharing it with people who visit later.
The app also records routes, making it possible to share roads that wheelchair users and others can travel along.
▼After Moriue finished explaining, each team held a strategy meeting to decide how to complete the missions.
Someone said they wanted to ride a rickshaw, so that was the first destination.
▼They set off from Kurashiki City Kurashiki Monogatari-kan and headed into the Bikan Historical Area.
Wheelchair user tries a rickshaw
Once they entered the Bikan Historical Area, they spotted a rickshaw in front of the Ohara Museum of Art.
▼They immediately checked whether it was possible to ride in a wheelchair.
When they asked the young man pulling the rickshaw, he said wheelchair users could ride in it.
▼However, assistance was needed to get on, and in this case four people were needed to help.
I also helped, unsure how to support them and feeling a little flustered.
▼They got into the rickshaw safely. What a relief.
The young man pulling the rickshaw raced around the Bikan Historical Area. Each time they passed a building, he told them about its history.
▼The young man not only gave them a tour, but also took photos.
Getting on and off the rickshaw was not easy, but the young man gave us solid support, so we were able to ride safely.
Wheelchair users say that there are many things they have given up because of their limited mobility. The participants told us they had never even dreamed they would be able to ride in a rickshaw.
▼Relieved after getting off the rickshaw, smiles naturally spread across their faces.
Lunch at a tourist destination is a challenge
After finishing our rickshaw tour, it was past noon. It was about the time we were starting to get hungry.
Are there places in the Bikan Historical Area where wheelchair users can enter without hesitation? We began looking for a restaurant from the perspective of wheelchair users.
The first restaurant we visited had no problem with wheelchair access, but we gave up because many customers were waiting in line.
▼The next place we visited was Miyake-tei, a Western-style restaurant known for its simmered dishes.
Many wheelchair users say they check with restaurants before visiting to make sure they can use them. They say that many restaurants are willing to accommodate them, but sometimes they are turned away because of the size of the premises or the width of the aisles.
Before entering Miyake-tei, we asked whether wheelchair users could use the restaurant, and were told there would be no problem.
▼They moved the chairs provided at the table, and we took our seats.
Restaurant review sites and restaurant websites sometimes use terms such as “barrier-free” and “wheelchair accessible,” but these are not always helpful.
Some descriptions intended for people who need assistance do not have specific, measurable standards. As a result, when they actually visit a restaurant, they may find it very difficult or impossible to use in a wheelchair.
They said it would be helpful to have specific information, such as whether there is a ramp, the height of steps, and the width of aisles.
▼The dish we ordered was pork saute.
They do not usually serve it cut up. A staff member noticed that one of us had difficulty using their hands and asked the chef to cut it up.
Everyone on the team was touched by this small act of consideration.
Physical accessibility, such as having enough space for a wheelchair to move around, is important, but so is consideration that allows people with physical disabilities to enjoy themselves.
Providing a service that everyone can enjoy equally, regardless of physical disability, may be what true accessibility is all about.
Wheelchairs make their way through the Bikan Historical Area
After filling up on pork saute, we continued exploring the Bikan Historical Area.
The Bikan Historical Area was bustling with people, and languages other than Japanese could be heard all around.
▼We make our way through the Bikan Historical Area.
Even on the seemingly flat roads of the Bikan Historical Area, wheelchair users say there are many places where they can feel a slope.
▼We stopped by Sumicafe Mimura while walking around town. The shop is run by the owner of RACOFFEE, located on the outskirts of the Bikan Historical Area.
Sumicafe Mimura is housed in a renovated storehouse. The entrance has a high step and the passageways are narrow, so it seemed difficult to enter in a wheelchair.
Instead, we got coffee to go.
Making historic buildings accessible to everyone could detract from their character. It can sometimes be difficult to balance preserving the scenery with accessibility.
For wheelchair users, being able to enjoy a space equally is important, but it is also important to feel psychologically at ease when receiving service. The coffee we took away was made with care, and it made us feel that this, too, was a form of accessibility.
Enjoying sweets in an Edo-period building
As we explored the historic streets, it was past 2 p.m. With snack time approaching, we looked for a place to enjoy dessert.
We chose Miyake Shoten, a cafe in a renovated traditional house, for dessert.
▼For wheelchair users, it seems difficult to get over the steps typical of an old house without assistance.
Because the cafe is in a traditional townhouse that has stood since the Edo period, there are steps throughout the interior.
▼The earthen-floored area near the entrance has few steps, and there was a table where wheelchair users could sit.
The staff put away the chairs so wheelchair users could use the table. We got the impression that restaurants throughout the Bikan Historical Area generally made an effort to ensure wheelchair users could enjoy their visit.
▼Everyone on the team enjoyed dessert.
Whether or not they used a wheelchair, the dessert undoubtedly satisfied both the heart and the stomach.
Everyone on the team let out sighs of admiration over the delicious dessert, so good it made their cheeks drop.
Sharing information gathered while exploring the town
After racing around the Bikan Historical Area by rickshaw and satisfying our hearts and stomachs with pork saute, coffee, and parfait, it was time for the event to end. The enjoyable time flew by.
▼All the teams returned to Kurashiki City Kurashiki Monogatari-kan and shared the information they had gathered while exploring the town.
We marked restaurants that wheelchair users could enter without any problems with pink sticky notes, those that required assistance with yellow sticky notes, and those that refused entry with blue sticky notes.
▼We wrote down the services provided by each establishment on the sticky notes so that we could share detailed information.
▼Finally, team representatives shared their impressions of the event.
They said that bringing people together for a town walk, regardless of whether they had disabilities, gave them a chance to share the perspective of wheelchair users.
The definition of accessibility varies among tourist facilities and restaurants, and apparently, even when you visit in person, you may find that you cannot use them.
Rather than simply saying that “the environment is accessible,” wheelchair users also need specific information, such as the height of steps and the width of passageways.
They also said that if you see a wheelchair user in difficulty, they would like you to speak to them. At the same time, wheelchair users should not expect too much and need to make efforts to help themselves.
It was a valuable opportunity to hear candid opinions that only wheelchair users can share.
Incidentally, our team earned the most points for completing the missions. My experience walking around the Bikan Historical Area while reporting proved useful.
Moriue Miho organizes town-walking events that not only share accessibility information but also give wheelchair users a chance to share their opinions.
We asked her what led her to start holding town-walking events.
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