Editor’s note: The theme of Inclusive Tokyo is to explore the metropolis from the viewpoint of wheelchair users and people with disabilities. Tourism officials, with their sights set on the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games and an anticipated influx of foreign visitors, are working to make public transportation and popular destinations more accessible. In this series, Barry Joshua Grisdale, a 39-year-old Tokyo resident who uses a wheelchair, navigates iconic locations to assess progress in creating a barrier-free environment.

***

This summer, the eyes of the world will be glued to sporting events staged in the capital's newly built National Stadium, the main venue for 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

The Kengo Kuma-designed stadium in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward opened to the public last Dec. 21 to great fanfare.

Excited to see what all the hype is about, Barry Joshua “Josh” Grisdale visited the stadium and checked out its barrier-free facilities.

Junichi Kawai, a decorated Paralympian and chairman of the Japanese Paralympic Committee, greeted Josh at the stadium.

“It's the first city in the world to host the Summer Paralympic Games twice,” Kawai said in underscoring the significance of Tokyo hosting the summer sporting event.

“I want as many people as possible to visit the venue and fill all the venues to welcome the athletes,” Kawai said.

(Click here to watch a video of Josh interviewing Kawai.)

Josh said he was impressed by the ticket counter's design.

The counter is designed so wheelchair users can edge in close and conduct their transaction easily.

The stadium's entrance gates are wide enough for wheelchair users to pass through smoothly, along with everyone else, without the need for a dedicated wheelchair lane.

“I like the fact that there is no distinction,” Josh said.

Venues often have entrances and hallways exclusive for wheelchair users, but at the National Stadium all walkways are equal.

Groups of people with disabilities, as well as those that support parental care, were involved in the planning of the venue through exchanges of opinions and requests, according to the Japan Sport Council, an incorporated administrative agency that operates the new stadium.

Some requests, such as setting up braille blocks for visually impaired people in restrooms, were not incorporated in the final plan. But many others, such as building more ramps and toilets for service and guide dogs, were.

The "backyard" section of the stadium has bathrooms and showers that athletes with disabilities can use.

The higher a floor in the five-story stadium shaped like a bowl, the sharper the angle of inclination becomes, so spectators on upper floors don’t feel distant from the field.

“Wow! There's nothing blocking your view. You can see across the whole stadium,” said Josh, as sunlight poured through the doughnut-shaped roof onto the playing field.

Of the venue's 60,000 or so seats for spectators, approximately 500 are reserved for wheelchair users.

Considering that the former National Stadium had only about 40 seats for wheelchair users out of 54,000 or so seats, it represents a significant improvement.

On the first floor of the stadium, seats for wheelchair users are arranged to surround the field.

These seats are adjacent to hallways, so wheelchair users can easily turn and get to a bathroom and concession counters.

Seats are designed so that views for wheelchair users won’t be blocked even when people in front seats stand up. Power outlets for electric wheelchairs are available as well.

Mana Kaizuka, 34, also a wheelchair user, joined Josh, with her mother Kiyomi.

Kaizuka, who frequently goes to stadiums to see her favorite idol group, said seating at the venues often caused problems for her or her mother, who assists her.

At many stadiums, seats for helpers accompanying people with disabilities are located behind those for wheelchair users. In some cases, these seats are folding chairs.

“That setup sometimes makes me feel I'm just an appendage,” Kiyomi said.

Some venues are designed so seating for spectators who use wheelchairs is on a special stage, making it impossible for them to get off the stage without seeking assistance, Kiyomi said.

“Every time I need to use the restroom, I have to bother someone,” Kaizuka said of her experience at such venues.

“But here I can go to the restroom without troubling anyone, which makes it easier to enjoy watching the events with other people.”

Both Kaizuka and Josh have impeded hand movements, so they were a little put out that the stadium is not equipped with special tables where they could eat comfortably.

Other than that though, the pair said the stadium was well-designed with people with disabilities in mind.

***

Barry Joshua Grisdale was born in Toronto in 1981. He fell ill shortly after birth and has a remaining disability that impedes movement of his arms and legs. He has used a wheelchair since he was 4 years old.

At the age of 19, Josh visited Japan with his father for the first time. He was particularly touched when a staff member at a train station waited to guide him to the entrance. He felt Japan was “barrier-free at heart.”

Josh came to Japan again in summer 2007, and obtained Japanese citizenship in 2016. He currently works at a care facility in Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward. He runs a website called Accessible Japan that provides sightseeing information for foreign nationals with disabilities.