October 8, 2006
Visit : Showa Memorial Park
- Check the barrier - free facilities of a public place and exchange opinions with Japanese people with disabilities
It was a beautiful Sunday and blue sky welcomed us.
Fifty six persons including twenty eight persons with physical, visual and hearing disabilities gathered and had a nice time together.
Showa memorial park was established as park of a project to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Emperor Showa's reign, and it now comprises about 138 hectares of completed area.
It was designed accessible to persons with disabilities and eldery people and provides the following services.
1.. Those visitors who have been issued with disability cards or medical cards, may park and enter the park free of charge.
2.. There are 36 wheelchairs available. Visitors wishing to use one should please feel free to ask at the entrance. They are, of course, free of charge.
3.. There are 32 toilets for the disabled located near to the main facilities in the park.
We devided into five cross disability groups and we introduced ourselves and exchanged ideas related to the disability issues. Then guide helpers at the park showed us around the park and explained the barrier-free facilities.
By the time we finished the program, all participants became friends and we could establish a network among us.
