Hi everyone, hope your day is going well. I will be visiting Tokyo sometime in January. I have found wheelchair accessible accommodation/hotels ( APA hotel Asakusa Kuramae) but I am absolutely lost as to how I would choose the accommodation that 1. has a convenient store nearby 2. has an accessible train station within walking distance. I am very new to this. Any recommendations or advice? I am a manual wheelchair user. Thanks. ( I tried posting this under the discussions tab but it didn’t wanna let me post )
11 Comments
Hello,
I love APA hotels Even if i dont know this one. The only thing is that Rooms are very small. It Could be difficult to enter the weelchair in your room. And some bathroom have a stepp.
1 Рthere are Always some 7eleven store in the h̫tel or nearby. You can buy food .
2. I use Google map to know if There is à station nearby the hôtel. In stations , you can ask for assistance to the staff. They Will help you to find the trains.
Have a good trip!
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@jul Thank you so much! A lot of the APA hotels claim to have accessible rooms but then again I am unsure. I will try and phone them.
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I was two weeks ago in apa hôtel Ginza Kyobashi : it is a Little old but not so far from Tokyo station and ginza.
And before in apa ueno.
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I don’t know the hotel, but for the station, there are a lot of metro stations everywhere in Tokyo, and most sidewalks are really easy to use to make long distances (even if I use a power wheelchair, steeps are really low in most areas, and bumps are quite rare in most big streets).
There are convenience stores (Konbinis) everywhere, and all are easily wheelchair accessible, even if some spaces seems quite narrow.
Google Maps is a life saving tool in Tokyo, and is working very well, use the option “wheelchair accessible ways” and it will show you all the routes you can take, with no steps and it also works with trains and metro stations guiding you to the elevators.
For the metro and train, just go at the desk near the gate and tell the station you need to go to, someone will come with you to get in and out of the train.
Hope this helps, don’t hesitate to ask if needed 🙂
Regards and have fun,-
@sdefreyne oh fr? That is such a cool feature I didn’t know google maps had. I might pop you a dm closer to the time. x
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@kiahm1 Don’t hesitate
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Hi Kiah, If you have got your suitable accommodation that’s great. If you booked it though a 3rd party please ring ahead to the hotel to check that you have an accessible room . Japan’s version of an accessible room differs from the western equivalent. You will get wider access with doors but the facilities for disabilities will vary. Please check and ask for a photo of the room . Best to do that to satisfy yourself . Convenience Stores are everywhere and great food selections My wife and I went to the nearest convenience store (Lawsons ) the day we arrived because we had jet lag and decided to eat in our room and then sleep . Lawsons have quality food . As far as metro and train stations they can be a bit daunting. My recommendation is go to the station and ask for help straight away either the ticket desk or an employee. They are great. So professional in their jobs and always there to help . Don’t worry be brave ! Enjoy your time there .
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@nick Thanks so much for your message. I am probably going with APA but they haven’t responded to my accessibility query yet. Maybe I should try call ? I usually do my bookings through bookings.com
Sorry to hear you had an issue – we’ll message to help you work through it!
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Kiah Please don’t trust your booking agent . They can only request what you want . We contacted the hotel directly after booking with a third party and asked for photos of the bathroom to satisfy our needs . We were allocated a disabled room only after contacting the hotel . It’s very important
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@nick Thank you so much for your advice. I will be sure to call the hotel ahead of time.
