Visitors check the accessibility of facilities at the tennis venue Ariake Coliseum for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. (Photograph: Newscom/Alamy via The Guardian)

Japanese government promises to provide wheelchair room for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics

The Japanese government has made a commitment that all hotels which are converted their regular rooms to friendlier and easy to be entered rooms for wheelchair guests to the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo will stay accessible as inheritance of the Games.   

In April, the British Paralympic officials were surprised when they visit hotels near the training camp in Yokohama, south of Tokyo. They demanded fees for making rooms accessible and for turning back the rooms after the Games ends, as the Guardian revealed. 

This problem had become “a huge headache” for more than 18 months, said one senior figure. The committee also had to wait an agreement from Yokohama authorities for helping them to solve the problem. 

The stumbling block was getting harder since the issue was beyond the authority of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee or government. In fact, it dependent on individuals hotels whether to provide rooms for wheelchairs visitors. Some hotels might not see the social or economic advantages of making more accessible rooms. 

Unlike other large cities, hotel rooms in Tokyo usually have small spaces with narrow doors making it harder for wheelchairs to come inside. Meanwhile in social aspect, some people mentioned that wheelchair users in Japan are fewer than other cities, causing them not realising the need of special rooms.   

The cabinet secretariat that co-ordinates Olympics planning, Jun Mitarai said the Yokohama city and the hotels had reached an agreement. After renovations, the hotel rooms will not go back to the original rooms and remain accessible as a legacy of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

A subsidy programme will be launched to help existing hotels make refurbishments and producing a “manual guide to help people with disability” for smaller hotels and inns. They have already started training their staff based on the manual, Mr Mitarai added.

He also encouraged for hotels that were unwilling to renovate for accessibility to see this as an opportunity for their business in the future.  

The governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike said The Olympics can only be successful if the Paralympics are also a success. To make an ultimate success of the 2020 Games, Tokyo must become more barrier-free society – providing accessible facilities for wheelchairs users and other people with disabilities.   

To encourage local people to come and watch the Paralympics Games, the organisers had created “Paralympic Passport”, Keiko added. 

The Japanese government and the Tokyo organising committee are working really hard for making the 2020 Tokyo Games to be unforgettable for everyone. The International Paralympic Committee President, Andrew Parsons said everything else is going smoothly besides the accommodation’s problem.He believed the Games will be absolutely astonishing.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jun/10/tokyo-2020-u-turn-as-hotels-agree-to-wheelchair-rooms-for-paralympics