[Stephane DEFREYNE]

We came back from Japan 2 weeks ago with a power wheelchair and we experienced a lot trains and Shinkansen, here are some simple tips :

– if you plan several journeys with Shinkansen, prepare a document with all the departures and arrival locations and times, and just go to a Shinkansen office (we went in Tokyo Station) and give the document, asking for a wheelchair seat and help for these journeys. It took 15 minutes, and all was booked and done in one time, we had all the tickets at once.
– arrive 30 minutes before departure at the Shinkansen office (near the gates) , and give the tickets. Normally someone will come with you and help you embark and disembark the bullet train.
– metro and trains works the same, just go to the metro / train office near the gate of the line you have to take, and tell where you go. Someone will go with you and help get in and out of the coach.
– for Fushimi-Inari and Nara, be careful. There is 2 differents stations in Inari : The Keihan line (we took it from Kyoto Sanjo Station to Fushimi-Inari station), and a JR train station just the other side of the stree (The JR Inari station). From there, you can take the Nara line and go to Nara. Same procedure as usual, we did this journey on Sunday Oct 27 in the morning.
– be careful if you want to visit Fushimi Inari to come early in the morning, because there is a LOT of tourists from 9 AM. We arrived at 8:15 AM and there were a few people. One hour later, it is fully crowded. There is a lot of people in Nara too, but there is a lot more space, so it is less impressive.
– if you like Google Maps, don’t hesitate to plan every trip with the stations name, be careful of the lines and directions names.
– Also, if needed, you can also use the city bus lines, all are wheelchair usable, just stand at the bus stop and tell the driver where you want to go. They will put a slope to get in and out, and set you in a reserved wheelchair space.

For people coming from Europe and experiencing wheelchair, all of this seems impossible to believe. Once you experienced the Japanese public transports in wheelchair, you can only think we are all barbarians 🙂

I hope all of this will help, don’t hesitate to DM if needed.

Regards and have fun !