Gathering information from the internet can be a great way to prepare for your trip to Japan, but there are also many books that offer great insights with more depth than any website or blog entry could offer.
We have taken the liberty to pick a few books to add to your reading list. In addition to travel guides, we have included books that have ties to Accessible Japan – either books we have reviewed on the blog or from authors who have contributed to our site.
Brew a cup of coffee and cuddle up in a blanket!
Travel Books
In addition to our own guide to Tokyo, for general travel information we recommend the Lonely Planet series since they have recently started to work on adding accessible travel information to their website and will do so for their books in the near future.
Accessible Japan’s TokyoJosh GrisdaleJapan has an image of being inaccessible to those with disabilities. This couldn’t be further from the truth! Japan is, in fact, very accessible for those with disabilities. With this book, Accessible Japan takes a look at everything from the basics of getting around to reviews of specific locations.
Lonely Planet Japan
Lonely PlanetLonely Planet Japan is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Get to the heart of Japan and begin your journey now!
Lonely Planet Tokyo
Lonely PlanetMarvel at the artistry of a Kabuki performance, sing karaoke amid the neon lights of Shinjuku, or treat yourself to some of the world’s freshest sushi; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Tokyo and begin your journey now!
Lonely Planet Kyoto
Lonely PlanetGet a panoramic view of Kyoto at Ginkaku-ji, catch a glimpse of geishas in the Gion district, or see Arashiyama’s infinite stalks of bamboo; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Kyoto and begin your journey now!
Books We've Reviewed
From time to time we review books on our blog. These books have a connection to disability in Japan.
In the Province of the Gods
Kenny Fries
Fries observes and shares his quest with the reader despite its very personal nature examining disability, love, and mortality. I feel richer to have experienced Japan through his book.
Read our review.
Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8
Naoki HigashidaIn Higashida’s second translated book, he shares his thoughts and experiences as a young man living with severe autism. The chapters offer short but poignant glimpses of school memories, relationships, the thrill of travel, and more. Read our review.
The Reason I Jump
Naoki HigashidaWritten by Naoki Higashida, a very smart, very self-aware, and very charming thirteen-year-old boy with autism, it is a one-of-a-kind memoir that demonstrates how an autistic mind thinks, feels, perceives, and responds in ways few of us can imagine. Read our review.
Halfway Gone
Matt Padmore
Englishman Matt is 35 and happy, loving his life in Japan and his new wife. Then, one Thursday morning, his life changes forever. Part memoir and part travelogue “Halfway Gone” is a story of life and love before and after a stroke.
Read our review.
No One’s Perfect
Hirotada Ototake
Ototake writes about his unique childhood growing up in Japan, a country that traditionally has shielded the disabled from the public eye. From his earliest days, he brought such a winning optimism into the crowds around him that people soon lost sight of what was missing.
Read our review.
Books Written by Accessible Japan Contributors
A few of the contributors to the website have also published books that are great reads.
A Girls’ Guide to the Islands
Suzanne Kamata
Spurred by her teen-aged daughter Lilia’s interest in art and adventure, Kamata sets out to show her the islands’ treasures. Mother and daughter must confront significant barriers. Lilia is deaf and uses a wheelchair. It is not always easy to get onto—or off of—the islands. And then there are the challenges of language, culture, and a generation gap.
Screaming Divas
Suzanne KamataAt sixteen, Trudy Baxter is tired of her debutante mom, her deadbeat dad, and her standing reservation at the juvenile detention center. Changing her name to Trudy Sin, she cranks up her major chops as a singer and starts a band, gathering around other girls ill at ease in their own lives.
Gadget Girl
Suzanne KamataFor most of her young life Aiko, who has cerebral palsy, has been her mother’s muse. But now, she no longer wants to pose for the sculptures that have made her mother famous and have put food on the table. Aiko works hard on her own dream of becoming a great manga artist with a secret identity.
Love You to Pieces
Suzanne Kamata
The first collection of literary writing on raising a child with special needs, Love You to Pieces features families coping with autism, deafness, muscular dystrophy, Down syndrome and more. Here, poets, memoirists, and fiction writers paint beautiful, wrenchingly honest portraits of caring for their children, laying bare the moments of…
Gaijin Story
Dr. Michael Peckitt
‘Gaijin Story: Tales of a British Disabled Man in Japan’ is a short collection of essays and articles detailing the experiences of British man and his first two years of living in Japan.
The Chrysanthemum and the Stick
Dr. Michael Peckitt
“As a disabled foreigner living in Japan, I have experienced both sides of this paradox. It may seem bleak, but I do not find it so. And yet for myself, a British citizen with cerebral palsy in Japan, it is the liberating power of being a foreigner here that leaves the deepest impression on me…”