What to do in Japan with bad legs?

My hubby and me are planning a 2week holiday in Japan for our 20th anniversary. Unfortunately I have bad legs and need walking aids to get around. So I just wanted to know what there was to do in Japan for people with walking disabilities. My hubby is a photographer so some great places for him to go and take photos would also be good.

In Japan there is good public transport but often the bus/metro stop can be a bit further away from the attractions you want to see. Eg bus stops in my experience are quite distant one from the next, compared to what I am used to in Europe.

You can get taxis quite easily , so that�fs always an option for the last mile.

I�fd say just plan your days accordingly so that you have only a few places to visit, all in the same part of the city. Take a hotel that is centrally locates to the different places you want to visit and close to a subway /train station so you can go back and rest. While maybe your husband continues with his photos.

In some places you can also get a wheelchair but specially for temples and shrines it is often not a good mode if transport because the paths are with a lot of small stones.

And last but not least, try visiting an onsen. Soaking in hot water should be nice for any pains (at least mist onsen claim that they are good for all different types of pains and ailments)

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

Japan is quite an accessibility-friendly country for people with disabilities, virtually all train/shinkansen stations are wheelchair accessible and the bigger cities like Tokyo/Osaka/Nagoya are pretty good with lifts/ramps in public places.

I'd venture that Hiking/Outdoor-intensive activities are out of the question for you, so you'd most likely wanna stick to historic towns/museums/cities. A trip to a Onsen Town would be great to celebrate an anniversary, such as Kinosaki/Arima/Kusatsu, and places like these are abundant with photography opportunities and provide an amazing one-of-a-kind atmosphere. And onsens, of course.

If you do decide to book a ryokan room at one such town, make sure you check in advance what style of ryokan it is, because the older types tend to be staircase only. https://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/ryokan-styles/

Hopefully this helps somewhat, happy anniversary and enjoy your trip!

There have been some great suggestions but I would make a few comments. A lot of the flat land in Japan is built out by concretey monoliths and a lot of the nicer stuff is in the foresty parts that tend to be hilly. Now there are hilly places that are still accessible to people with various impairments, though they might struggle a bit. Kusatsu onsen would be in that category, Bessho onsen would be another. The towns are very hilly but if you are game no-one will bat an eyelid, a lot of Japanese struggle away almost bent over double, but really these places are hard work even with 2 good legs. Kyoto has most of the good stuff on the hills that surround it, the city centre itself is flat but actually quite dreary (that is a shocking generalisation but mainly true). Nara has some hills but most are manageable, albeit with a lot of walking or maybe the local rickshaw guys could get a run.

Then there are some other pretty towns that are not as hilly. Shuzenji (Izu peninsula) is sloped but pretty gentle, Kinosaki onsen is pretty flat, Takayama town itself is nice and flat, as is Kanazawa, and Kamakura for that matter, and then rounding out the K's I'd suggest Karuizawa (nice shopping, fun town), and Kamikochi (onsen hotel there is excellent, also great photo opportunities though not much history). If you have a healthy budget and want an onsen town Shuzenji would be my pick. Not Kinosaki because they only have onsen water in the public baths which are usually a bit much for a first timer. For a lovely historic town with some slopes to deal with but generally OK, it would be hard to go past Nara (just booked our 5th stay there) or Takayama (booked our 5th stay there as well). Closer to Tokyo I'd say Kamakura is hard to beat, and Karuizawa is lovely as well.

I am such a strong proponent of recreational train riding in Japan that I�fm going to sound like a broken record, but that sort of activity sounds like a natural match for your situation. One of my favorite things to do in Japan is to take scenic train rides, and they are certainly very easy on the legs. My typical pattern is to keep a given hotel for multiple days (up to a week) and take long-distance day trips where I leave in the morning, take a pleasant train ride somewhere, do a little carefully planned sightseeing (not too much) at the destination, and return in the mid- to late afternoon. If I had mobility issues, I would pick a hotel that is directly connected to a JR station (this is also helpful when it rains), and I would probably pick sightseeing venues that were easily accessibly by cab from the destination JR Station, and that had loaner wheelchairs available.

If you like Japanese gardens, for example, Kenrokuen in Kanazawa would be a viable destination from Tokyo. There are parts of the grounds that are not wheelchair accessible, but they do have a designated loop, and they apparently have loaner wheelchairs. That could be a swell day trip. (Buy good food to eat on the train in both directions.) The scenery on the Hokuriku shinkansen is a mixed bag (some tunnels) but if you haven�ft seen it, it would be interesting. (Between Nagano and Kanazawa is particularly good.) Another good day would be Ritsurin Koen in Takamatsu, coming from Osaka, Okayama, or even Kyoto. (That garden is a little more accessible.)

One of the best day trips I ever took was an excursion to Adachi Museum in Yasugi, when I was staying in Okayama as a home base (there are numerous other good train-riding day trips from that city as well). The train ride is particularly scenic, and the museum is quite wheelchair friendly. The gardens are viewed from inside the museum so they are of course wheelchair friendly as well.

Have you visited the Accessible Japan website? I can�ft exactly vouch for it because I haven�ft used it, but I have seen it mentioned numerous times. You didn�ft mention whether you were willing to use wheelchairs, but if it were me, I would. I�fm afraid that there aren�ft that many things you can do in Japan that don�ft involve at least a little walking plus a lot of being on your feet. https://www.accessible-japan.com/

Don�ft overlook museums (of many, many kinds), aquariums, and possibly sporting events. A baseball game in Japan can be quite an experience. Or I suppose there�fs sumo or something (I�fm definitely not a fan), or traditional types of theatre.

Thankyou so much for all the help and the comments it�fs been so very helpful.

Do some Googling for "accessible Japan". There are some good resources for people that need easier access and Tokyo publishes a book with 20 day trip/tour options for people. A sample site is http://accessible.jp.org/tokyo/

While there is accessibility legislation, many places are not too friendly for people with disabilities or poor mobility. If you select the right places you can still get to see some great places. I have toured with people with replaced knees/hips, false legs, broken ankles and more. Finding places that suit you is the key, and does take time/research.