| A national law was passed in 2000 to press for "barrier-free"
transportation systems that would allow the elderly and disabled to use them without
difficulty. In line with this new law, work has proceeded on redesigning stations
and train cars to make them easy to use. More and more stations are equipped with
elevators and escalators to take people to the platforms, and Braille maps are
being installed to help the visually impaired find their way around the stations.
In these and other ways, railway operators are moving to make their facilities
accessible to all.
Tokyo can be a tough place for foreign visitors who speak no Japanese to get around,
and the complexity of the rail system certainly doesn't make this any easier.
But recently the largest and most confusing subway stations - Ginza, Shinjuku,
Nihonbashi, and Otemachi among them - have been outfitted with information
booths staffed by English speakers. There are also rail system guidebooks available
in English as well as Korean and Chinese. More recently, stations have been installing
foreign-language signs near the ticket-vending machines to explain how to buy
tickets and use the train lines. Station exits and platforms are all marked with
letters of the alphabet and numbers, making it simpler for passengers to find
their way around, and beginning in April 2004 all stations will be given alphanumeric
codes, which should make giving complicated transfer directions a snap. |
