Reply To: Trip to Japan in March
OK, I got a reply from Takayama city saying some buses are accessible, others aren’t. Not terribly helpful.
However, they gave me the phone number for the bus operator, Nohi Bus. I called them and the bus to Shirakawa-Go is definitely not accessible. The only option would be for people who can fold their wheelchair and walk up the steps. (And not every bus has a luggage compartment to store a wheelchair.)
The local buses are also not all accessible, but some are. They can arrange to have a certain bus be the accessible one if you call in advance (only for the local bus, not the one to Shirakawa-Go). The phone number is 0577-32-1160. But since I’m pretty sure none of them speak English, I suggest that before going, you ask one of your hotels in Osaka/Kyoto/Tokyo help with the call.
That being said, it may be much less stressful (though more expensive) to hire the accessible taxi for the day so you can go everywhere…
Sorry for the bad news.
