 All eleventh graders undertake an individual research project. Each student chooses an area of interest, takes a year to study it, and writes up a report. The topics chosen have included cloning technology and physical barriers to disabled people in public transport systems. |
Meikei
High School
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| Hiroaki Kenmoku | ||
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Hiroaki
first chose public transportation as his survey target, then narrowed
it down to railroads before starting the project. Over summer vacation
he visited all 34 stations between Ueno and Mito (covering a distance
of about 120 kilometers, or 75 miles) along Japan Railway's Joban Line,
which runs through the school's neighborhood. |
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Hiroaki Kenmoku |
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 At
each station, he looked for the kinds of accommodations that have been
made to help physically disabled people get around and use the facilities,
and he also took photographs and put together detailed maps of the stations.
"I did my research in midsummer, and so my notebook got soaked with sweat.
Since the big stations have many exits, to see how the wheelchair elevators
are set up or how many slopes there are, I had to go all over the station.
When I finished my inspections, though, I felt like I'd made a major accomplishment."
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 What
Hiroaki found out was that in the case of the Joban Line, the closer a
station is to central Tokyo, the more disabled-friendly it is, and the
farther it is, the more inconvenient it is for the disabled. "Maybe it's
to be expected that stations with fewer users are less advanced in such
efforts, but the countryside actually has a higher percentage of elderly
people, so there's a need to improve those facilities," he says. During
the six-day trip to Taiwan that all eleventh graders took part in, moreover,
he surveyed the new transit system of the island's capital, Taipei. "In
the new transit system, the facilities are just about 100% accessible
to disabled users. I felt that people's awareness of the issue in Taiwan
is quite high." |
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Still, he says, he's counting on Japan's technologies in the future. "I think the real issue is having a 'barrier-free' mind. Many Japanese are still very prejudiced toward disabled people; they need to think of disabilities as a personal trait." After graduating, Hiroaki says, he hopes to go on to either the social welfare or education field. |
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When
it was time for Hiroaki Kenmoku to choose a theme for his project, the
thought of his grandfather crossed his mind. "My grandfather used to
be really energetic and loved to go out, but he suffered a stroke and
is now confined to a wheelchair. I was looking for ways to take him
around, and that got me interested in the idea of reducing physical
barriers."
As
for Japan's current situation, Hiroaki thinks, "The equipment isn't
set up with enough consideration for the users. At Ueno Station, for
instance, the large staircases have escalators, but those with just
three or four steps don't. People in wheelchairs won't know how they
can get around unless they check the route on a map beforehand."