It’s not great… but I loved it!

I hate to write this, but Japan isn’t accessible. I’m a really active amputee, but even I struggled. I’ll start with the negatives:

  • There are no benches anywhere. Like literally anywhere.
  • The subway is so rammed you always have to stand and no one gives up their seat.
  • I didn’t see a single wheelchair or pushchair during my whole trip – that says all you need to know about accessibility in Japan.

I found myself Googling the reasons for this phenomena. It turns out that there is a cultural expectation to ‘move purposefully’ through public spaces, rather than ‘hang around’… the trouble is, nearly every other outlet on every street is a food outlet, so you find yourself buying food with nowhere to sit and eat, and eating whilst walking is a definite no-no in Japan. You’re sort of allowed to stand outside the 7-Eleven’s and eat, but you’ll still get disapproving looks and it all feels rather awkward.

There are no lovely coffee shops / eateries with street seating outside (due to a lack of space) and the seats inside are always full. I had to Google the question: “Do the Japanese eat out everyday,” because everywhere was always so rammed, but it turns out they don’t, it just looks that way because there are so many people in Japan… and to be honest that should have been obvious as Tokyo is the most populated city in the world with over 37 million people… and most of them can be found on the subway!

…and the tip I had before travelling was to book a hotel next to a subway station, which I did, but the subway stations are massive and you’ll find yourself walking underground for 15 minutes before you get to the platform.

So, the subways aren’t great, there are no benches to stop and take a rest, and there are no Lime Scooters or e-bikes like the ones you get in London and other major cities – absolute necessities for people like me who love to zip around easily. So basically you’re walking for long, long periods at a time… or you’re getting piggy backs!

The extent to which they don’t understand / cater for the needs of people with reduced mobility can be explained by my experiences with Yuki, my Japanese guide. I booked him via the Go With Guide website and very clearly explained that I had a prosthetic leg and could not walk for long periods. I’d booked a guided day in Kyoto and a day at Mount Fuji and both ended up having so much walking involved! “It’s just a short 1.5 hour walk around the bamboo forest” he’d say after we’d walked 1 hour to get to the bamboo forest!

The queue for the Hakone Ropeway that took us up the Owakudani volcano also highlights the lack of catering for mobility issues. It was a standing queue that snaked around the gondolas for 90 minutes. I asked Yuki to find out where the ‘accessible’ entrance or queue was, assuming there’d be one… after much argument with the person in charge, Yuki managed to get me a chair that I could sit on while my family joined the queue!

However, despite all of this, Japan is BRILLIANT! The volcano stank and my brother felt ill from eating the ‘black egg,’ but it is an absolute must!

The “black egg legend” in Japan refers to the belief that eating a kuro-tamago (black egg) from Owakudani can add seven years to your life.

So once we realised we’d need to get taxi’s everywhere, things definitely improved. Yes the Japanese subway is cheap and always on-time, but it’s simply not suitable for amputees, or anyone who likes to sit down or even breathe freely on their journeys!

The bullet train is different. This needs to be booked in advance and you’ll need a guide like Yuki to help you as the language barrier in Japan is significant. But I can’t recommend it enough. It whizzed us to Kyoto and we got the very best view of Mount Fuji.

Likewise the Romance Car to Hakone was spacious… but how you’d book it on your own I have no clue as visiting Hakone involves Hakone day passes, not just Romance Car passes. It is all very complicated so you’ll definitely need a local guide.

Spending money on taxis definitely made the trip a lot more expensive – they cost about the same as a London black cab – but it meant I could still see all of the sights I had planned, like the cat temple (Gotokuji Shrine) in the Setagaya ward and the world’s most famous crossing at Shubuya, the Meiji Shrine, the 2D cafe, and the Sensoji Temple at Kannon-Do.

There is so much history and culture in Japan which is wonderful – learning about the 1,001 Buddhas in the Sanjusangendo Temple, and partaking in all of the bowing and clapping and reading of fortunes – but I’d be lying if I didn’t say my favourite things were the Shibuya Crossing:

…and the amount of money I spent in Don Quijote!

Japan is just cool! That’s the best way to describe it, a really cool place with really cool things to see and do. This blog will end up being far too long if I list everything I did over there, but you can see it all on my Instagram page and take a look at my ‘Japan’ highlights reel to get a real flavour of my trip.

You’ll also be able to read more about it in the Jan 2026 issue of Hey Girl Magazine showcasing the most fire shots I had taken in Tokyo where I was modelling designer Xing’s techwear jacket.

So in summary it’s busy, it doesn’t cater for mobility issues, you won’t be able to sit down and take a rest, but it’s a place like no other and I loved every second of it!