Question! For everyone has been to Japan, to help those planning to go to Japan, what is one thing you wish you had known before your trip?
Maybe there is something you wish you brought, or something to be aware of when booking a hotel, or…
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Nadz, Stephane DEFREYNE and 3 others12 Comments-
How much walking/ rolling we would be doing. Next time my husband will get good quality gloves (he is a manual wheelchair user) to protect his hands.
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Yes, much more than you would expect!
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When booking a hotel room triple check that they have reserved your disabled room . Do it constantly leading up to your trip .Contact the hotel direct to check even if you have booked through an agent. Ask for photos of the room to satisfy your needs . I speak with experience as we booked the Kimpton Tokyo .They only have one disabled room. We booked 7 months ahead with an agent. I also contacted the hotel direct for photos and checking that we had the room . Every two months I re checked to make sure everything was ok . Last two week before we arrived I checked again with no issues. You guessed it. We arrived after a 14 hour flight to be told there was someone occupying the room. They had not updated their system was the excuse. Disaster. After several hours they found us an alternative hotel . Put a bit of a damper on our start to the holiday of a lifetime but we managed in the end. So my tips are keep asking the question.
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That is horrible! Was the alternative better? If so, what was the name?
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Also the description of a disabled room is Barrier Free Room . It will have wider doors and a bit more space but this can be a bit of a cloudy description as there maybe no support rails around the bath or toilet. Always contact the hotel direct for pictures to satisfy your needs .
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We were taken to the Hilton Hotel about 5 minutes by Taxi away from the Kimpton. They had disabled rooms which were perfect. The hotel was not as good as the Kimpton but it served our needs. I have my own thoughts about why the Kimpton gave our room away.There was a wedding on in the Kimpton when we arrived and the Hotel was overtaken by wedding guests. Obviously a guest from the wedding was occupying our room for the one night as the room became available the next day for the rest of our stay. I’m a bit cynical about what happened but I think I am right . Weddings are big big business for hotels and they tend to get what they want to satisfy the whole experience so that’s my view on it .
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Nothing surprises me anymore in life .I am my wife’s carer and I always fight her corner so in the end it worked out ok . They did look after us with free breakfast and evening meal for the remainder of our stay but to be honest we would just would have liked a problem free stay! Even so Japan is awesome, it did not impact our holiday to much .
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I wish I would have known how much we were going to love Japan and had planned to stay longer. We found Japan very accessible and the people and culture amazing. Kyoto was wonderful as was Yokohama! We felt the Shinkansen from Yokohama to Kyoto was worth the money and part of our experience in Japan!
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According to my experience, the most important information I wish I knew is that my european battery charger for my electric wheelchair does not work in Japan ! 🙂
Thanks to @joshgrisdale , @sarahnishina and @ohayotravel we quickly found solutions and could go on with our trip !
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Yes, it depends on the train, but in general there is a seat missing where the wheelchair user can go with a seat next to it. Check out this video: https://youtube.com/shorts/QdARJKAkhXk?si=DNY3paEd9u6ZI8rf
Some newer ones will have I think about 5 spots, but they are still new and being introduced gradually.
There is also a “multi-purpose” room that has two seats that can be a fold out bed, and space for a wheelchair so you could have a private room (though note that some lines reserve it for those with a medical reason like feeling sick during the ride).
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There are 5 seats in one row in Shinkansen. Wheelchair user needs to book seat B of the row where seat C is removed. So you could book A+B+D if you are group of three. As the number of the such seats are limited, I recommend to book it as early as possible.
ABC DE (normal setup)
AB DE (wheelchair seat setup)
You could find some more information here (website of Anshin Travel)
