By Dr Ian Brittain and Prof David Jarvis (Coventry University), April – May 2024.
In early April 2024 Dr Brittain, a specialist in the study of the Paralympic Games and it’s legacies, and Prof David Jarvis, a specialist in transport policy, both from the Centre for Business in Society at Coventry University, travelled to Tokyo for six and a half weeks to study the impact of the Tokyo 2020ne Paralympic Games on accessible transport in Tokyo and beyond.
Basing themselves at Waseda University in the centre of Tokyo they set out to interview disabled people with a variety of impairments regarding their experiences of public transport in Tokyo and beyond. They also interviewed people involved in the policy planning process for accessible transport and did a walking interview with one such individual, who is also a wheelchair user, that took in the use of Tokyo Metro and Japan Rail trains and one of the new Toyota ‘Accessible’ Taxis. They were also fortunate as foreigners to be able to purchase a three week Japan Rail Pass that allowed them to travel to other parts of Japan using the Shinkansen and other Japan Rail trains and thus compare the accessibility of stations well beyond Tokyo.
In total they carried out 18 interviews at organisations such as Disabled Person’s International – Japan, STEP Edogawa Centre for Independent Living and Price Waterhouse Cooper. They also collected notes and photographic evidence from other cities and towns across Japan. On the whole their findings were quite positive, although it should be noted that the role of the Tokyo 2020ne Paralympic Games in this process was more to have turbo charged a policy process that has been ongoing since the late nineties rather than being the sole reason for noted improvements. There were still apparent issues with non-disabled attitudes towards disabled people and their awareness of why accessibility aids had been fitted to stations and trains, but on the whole there was a perception of a marked improvement in transport accessibility, particularly in Tokyo, but also in larger towns and cities beyond. That doesn’t however mean that there isn’t still further improvements necessary, particularly in more rural areas and in non-disabled attitudes and understanding.
As part of their trip Dr Brittain and Prof Jarvis also gave presentations to undergraduate students at Kansai University in Osaka, and had meetings with the Policy Director of the Sasakawa Sports Foundation and the President and Senior Researcher from the Nippon Foundation Paralympic Research Group.