[alliejay]

Hi Justin:

We took the Fuji excursion from Tokyo to Fujikawaguchiko in March 2023. I am not a full time wheelchair user so I did not request a wheelchair accessible seat, but I think based on our experience, you might want to inquire directly at the station.

For one thing, as I am sure you’ve realized, it’s a limited schedule (three trains there and three back per day). Also, we noticed (during the ride) that the train will split at some point so the passengers who were continuing to Fujikawaguchiko had to travel standing. By sheer luck we were in a car where we did not have to move. Very fortunate because I can’t stand for very long!

The ride is lovely and the train is quite nice. I’d advise you to get your seat at the station ahead of time to avoid any potential “moving around” during the trip. Have a great time!

[schroth-sensei]

Thanks for the information! I’ll try that then.

[Rebeca Kim]

Unfortunately I did have problems about that. There is a wheelchair space, in most trains it is at train 23, but people did not understand that in stations. I don’t know if it is because of my lack of English or Japanese or what… in fact, what I did was staying in the space or transfer to the last one available and place my chair after the last seat. Wish you a better experience about it! Let us know

[schroth-sensei]

Thanks again everyone for the responses!
Very happy we went to the ticket office, even though it took a literal hour. We got our tickets booked for the 20th, which is awesome as on the online booking site they said it was booked that day (so I guess they may hold some seats for wheelchairs?). I’ll try to post a follow-up after the trip of how it went and any additional information.

-Justin

[Josh Grisdale]

How was it?

[schroth-sensei]

The trip went great, I stayed in my wheelchair next to the chair I assume I was supposed to transfer into. My caregiver sat in that seat, though another seat was booked for us as well. No one had an issue with me staying there (the conductor checked our tickets once, I think just to make sure where we’re going). I did make sure to stress the point I needed to stay seated in my wheelchair when I bought my tickets, so maybe that was part of the hour it took to confirm my ticket purchase with the train company.

My Conclusion: Yes, talk to the ticket counter people in a JR Travel Service Center at a major station if you need accessible seating on reserved seating trains, inform them of your needs upfront, try to have all the train details (start/end locations, time leaving/returning, etc.) to make it easier, and book as early as you can.