Accessible travel in Japan, Kyoto and Tokyo

[prudence passenger]

Review  trip to Japan September/October 2023

 

You may see the review of the first two weeks of our trip in the section on Silversea, the Silver Muse.  This includes the ports we visited.  Also information on the fact I purchased a wheelchair on amazon.jp, and the wonderful hotel that received and held it for me.  Much information and assistance was received by using the website Accessible Japan.  

 

After we disembarked the cruise line in Yokohama, we continued our Japanese adventure with 5 nights in Kyoto, and 6 nights in Tokyo.  We flew JAL from Haneda to Itami.  What a wonderful airline!  We were helped from the moment we got into the airport, and taken to a special assistance area. The Japanese are very serious about supporting the elderly.  Also families with young children and their strollers.  I was given an airport wheelchair ( used inside), and my wheelchair and also my walker were wrapped in plastic.  Staff were with us every step of the way, and we were met at the other end as well.  Excellent service.  Would recommend JAL.

 

We stayed at the Hotel Mitsui Kyoto.  I can not say enough wonderful things about this property.  We were wowed from the moment we approached and entered.  This was definitely built and decorated with feng shui in mind.  There is a feeling of calm and peacefulness as soon as one enters the lobby and sees the pond and interior garden.  The outside disappears, and one feels relaxed.  The attention to detail is phenomenal.  The lighting was exquisite.  The staff is professional and highly trained.  We have stayed at many wonderful properties all over the world, and we can say this was in the top 3!  We had a lovely room overlooking the garden.  Even the hallways were well done.  When have you ever remembered what the hallway was like?  This property has it’s own onsen spa from their own underground spring on the lower level.  Stone and water, soft lighting, rain waterfalls in the pools, comfortable seating.  It was visually stunning.  

 

There are two restaurants on property.  Forni, also has the bar, and is great for breakfast overlooking the garden.  The other was Toki – Innovative Kyoto - French for dinner, and lovingly prepared and served.  

 

Our concierge par excellance, Patricia, went above and beyond to assist us with our needs.  We always required accessible friendly transport, and dinner recommendations at accessible restaurants.  Patricia found us some remarkable restaurants to try different types of Japanese style meals.  We tried Kaiseki, Yakitori, Izakaya, and Yakiniku.  

 

We truly loved our experiences in Kyoto. There are no tall office and apartment complexes as in Osaka or Tokyo.  The Geisha district is charming.  We went to the Arashiyama Bamboo forest.  The amount of tour buses and tourists was incredible. Packed.  Luckily our driver knew a back area entrance to a less popular section and dropped us off there.  We did not stay very long, but got to hear the wind rustling the bamboo, and hear the clacking and see them swaying.  It would be beautiful if not so many people!  

 

One of our most favorite stops was the Fushimi Inari shrine with the 10,000 Torii gates.  We were unable to walk up the mountain, but there were plenty of gates to see and walk through with the wheelchair.  Of course, no trip here would be complete without the famous Kinkakuji (Gold pavilion) Temple and gardens. It is truly glorious, and there is a way to go halfway around without steps, and when others started climbing, we just turned around to go back the way we had come.  

 

We also visited Kiyomizu-dera Temple way up above the city.  The views here are fabulous..  There is a special entrance our guide was allowed to drive up since we had the wheelchair.  

This is close to the Gion Geisha district.  We saw tons of tourists dressed in kimono taking photos for Instagram.  

 

Nijo Castle was around the corner from our hotel.  As soon as we got on the grounds, with thick gravel, so difficult to manuever, we were able to use a power assisted wheelchair, and ours was stored.  Upon getting to the castle section, an inside wheelchair is used.  Unfortunately, no photos allowed inside.  The screens are very beautiful, and the 33 rooms impressive.

 

We also went to Ginkakuji ( Silver Pavilion) zen temple and garden.  We arrived late in the day and it was not crowded at all, very peaceful and lovely.  

 

Another interesting Buddist temple was Sanjusangendo, totally accessible pathways, and inside as well, and there are 1001 life size statues inside, also no photos.  Each statue has its own distinctive face.  

 

Another great recommendation from our concierge extraordinaire, Patricia, was a nearby millennial age forest with mostly accessible pathways to a shrine, Shimogamo Jinja, Kyoto’s oldest Shinto shrine.  Have you read about forest bathing? It was lovely and peaceful, not many tourists.  We saw a young couple in traditional dress taking wedding photos.  Delightful. 

 

 

After the amazing time we spent in Kyoto, we traveled on to Tokyo.  It was New York City on steroids.  So many large towers of buildings, offices and apartments.  Our hotel, the Prince Gallery Kioicho was on the top floors.  Our room was on the 34^th with amazing city views, especially at night.  The room had a long window seat with pillows across a room width window.  Electronic curtains and blackout shade.  This room was also large by Japanese standards.  We had a huge walk in shower for two.  The hotel bar looked out on the wonderful city view as well.  We had club level, which was on our floor.  Unfortunately, no breakfast served, except coffee, and maybe a small sweet.  This was unusual for a club.  There was afternoon tea, and also a cocktail hour with small bites.  This club also looked out over the view.  The restaurants were not good, noisy, devoid of ambiance, but had the view, and we went elsewhere.  Because the hotel is in a large building, the first 3 or 4 floors had restaurants, shops, a mini mart, and a small supermarket..  A couple of coffee shops, with outdoor seating, nice for breakfast. 

 

We had wonderful concierge service here as well.  The staff made sure our dinner reservations were in an accessible venue, and also arranged accessible Kabuki tickets for us.  The staff always made sure I had a vehicle that would accommodate the wheelchair everytime we went out.  This is such an easy city to navigate. We were able to take taxis everywhere, and they were easy to get wherever we went.  Our concierge always gave us a paper with our destination in kanji, and we kept a hotel card with its address in kanji as well for our return.  The hotel is located near the Imperial Palace, and we were told it was the Political area.  It was nice to not have hoards of tourists and noise outside the hotel.  Yet, it was close to all the areas we went to visit. 

One of our first stops, was the fully accessible Senso-ji Shrine.  There is even an elevator into the shrine, built to look as though it was always there, so mobility challenged individuals can make devotion without climbing many stairs.  There is a five story pagoda on the property.  This is in the Asakusa neighborhood, great for strolling ( or pushing) around afterwards, with many shops and restaurants in small narrow streets, very atmospheric.  

 

At this point in time, after 3 weeks, I think my husband was Buddhist Temple, Shinto Shrine, and Japanese gardened out! We decided to do more city things here.  We did go to the National Museum and the Modern Art museum which were both great.  The National is really a few different museums and by Ueno park where the zoo is located.  This was the only place in the entire country we visited that we saw a few homeless people in tents.  

 

We got tickets to Team Lab Planets, which was an immersive visual experience.  Such a lot of fun, and reminiscent of the Van Gogh show we saw in Los Angeles.  We were able to participate in almost every experience.  We opted out of the water one, where it could come up to your knees.  They gave me an inside wheelchair, and parked mine.  Every room was a totally different feel, and so cleverly implemented.  Definitely Instagram popular!  

 

We did our shopping in Tokyo, heading to the well known restaurant kitchen wonderland Kappabashi to purchase some magnificent knives.  We met some chefs while we were there at Tsubaya, we definitely recommend this shop for quality and expertise.  We also made a stop in Harajuku to pick up anime gifts, and also to an iconic department store in Ginza, Mitsukoshi.  Two basement floors of food stalls to make your mouth water.  There is also an exhibition space and we found an Art Aquarium installation that was just amazing.  A unique find. 

 

We went one evening to Shibuya Crossing, famous in movies, TV, and music videos.  It made Times Square look small.  About 3000 people cross every 2-3 minutes, in all directions.  Multiple video screens above, and tons of advertising.  There is also an area you can walk with no car traffic with lots of shops and restaurants, and karaoke bars.  This is also the site of the famous dog statute, that patiently waited for his master for years, after he passed away, and did not come home from his office.  

 

Our last evening we attended two different Kabuki theater performances.  No photos allowed here sadly.  One was dancing, and the other more traditional theater.  The translation headphones were pretty useless, just read the program.  Most of the female parts were still played by men.  We enjoyed it very much.  Some last minute gift shopping for Japanese tshirts for the grandkids at the Uniqlo store.  If we had more time we could have gotten custom shirts, or at least personalized.  The ones we saw and we leafed through the books, looked really fun.  

We did find really fun T-shirts for all the grandchildren here.  Think dumplings, sushi, noodle bowls, and also dragons, geisha, ninja, and even Hokusai’s wave

 

The marathon trip back home is never easy, but we are so so glad we made the effort to travel to Japan and explore this amazing country.  

 

[JSR]

Thank you for taking the time to provide this information. Very helpful. Do you have a link to your first two weeks in Silver Muse? 

[Odin's Raven]

Hi I know this a few months after your trip but could you give me some information about the Team Lab Planets? It says on their website it’s not wheelchair friendly ? Did you still manage to enjoy the place with no difficulty?

[cruiseaholic78]

Not the Op but we visited Team Lab Tokyo and to be honest I am afraid I can't imagine this being possible in a wheelchair. The start is an uphill sort of steps during which water cascades down (to clean the smelly feet!) then dry your feet and enter a sort of place which is full of fabric which you have to walk through. It is also very dark then are various rooms including one with a mirrored floor, one walking thru water.

I won't go into too much detail to spoil it for others.

 

I have just reread Op's review (a great one by the way) and they mention being given a special wheelchair by TeamLabs so there must be someway to acces the venue. If they don't reply I suggest you contact them directly with your concerns. If it is possible it is definitely worth a visit.

https://www.teamlab.art/e/planets/

happy planning

[Odin's Raven]

Thank you so much ,that’s very helpful .