Shoko Kanazawa is a Japanese calligrapher with Down Syndrome. With the confidence she gained through her work, she decided to take the plunge and start living independently starting this December. Previously Shoko was living with her mother – not uncommon as a large population of adults with Down syndrome in Japan still Read more…
Mark Bookman is currently a PhD student in East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania. He came to Japan on a Fulbright Fellowship in the fall of 2014 and studied Buddhist philosophy at Toyo University for 10 months. He uses an electric wheelchair. The masses come and Read more…
On March 26th, the Barrierless City Awards and Competition was held in downtown Tokyo. The competition began as the effort of two architects – one a wheelchair user – as they struggled to find enough accessible accommodations for athletes in an international wheelchair tennis competition. Being from the design and architecture Read more…
At Sign With Me, a local soup Café in Tokyo customers are received by sign language and gestures from staff members. In Japan it is traditional to receive a ‘irasshaimase’ shouted as a welcome when a new customer enters into a restaurant but here it’s a much more quiet affair. Read more…
From a work of fiction, being written by Michael Gillan Peckitt, tentatively entitled ‘Foreigner’. Mornings seem forced to me. – Osamu Dazai Sleeping on a futon has ruined me, it is too comfortable. There is something about a bed I now find to be too soft, I prefer a harder Read more…
Tomihiro Hoshino was an experienced 24-year-old gymnastics teacher with a real passion for the sport. An active mountain climber and gymnastics instructor, his life changed completely as he was demonstrating a double somersault technique to a group of junior high school students. Hoshino unfortunately injured his neck during the maneuver Read more…