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A Journey through Inclusive Fukushima
A short documentary about inclusive tourism initiatives in Fukushima, Japan
Featured Post
November 2022
Created by
Ally Hongo
This short documentary is about the story behind the Japan Travel Awards, an initiative launched in 2021 to discover the best of Japan's diverse and inclusive tourism. The documentary introduces the work of the Fukushima Barrier-Free Tour Center (Fukushima, Japan), the Japan Travel Awards' inaugural Grand Prix winner. The Center was also the recipient of the Most Accessible Destination Award and the Media Award awarded by Accessible Japan, an English-language platform for accessible travel in Japan.
About The Fukushima Barrier-Free Tour Center
The Fukushima Barrier-Free Tour Center assists travelers with various physical disabilities and their families to make the most of their travel in Fukushima city and other regions nearby. It also acts as a consultant to local businesses, such as accommodation facilities, sightseeing destinations and restaurants, and helps them become more inclusive and diverse. Their website features information in English on various Fukushima destinations, accompanied by multiple photos and details on accessibility: www.fukushima-barrier-free.com
🇯🇵 Learn more about the Japan Travel Awards at japantravelawards.com/en
🎬 Documentary produced by: Shiitake Creative (shiitakecreative.jp) and Panic Ball Productions (panic-ball.com)
Posted in
Video
,
Accessible Travel
,
Japan
,
Fukushima
Thank you for watching our short documentary! My name is Ally Hongo, the co-founder of Shiitake Creative, a small creative agency based in Tokyo. I've been based in Japan since 2001 and have worked in various media companies in Japan for the past 10+ years. Over the years, a big part of my job included promoting Japanese travel destinations to the overseas market — all fantastic destinations worth visiting multiple times. However, while writing about these destinations, I (and other founding members who were on the team) noticed that a crucial part of the information about traveling in Japan is left unaddressed: how to travel around if you have disabilities, travel with small children, or have other issues that you'd like to know before-hand but don't know where to ask. And where to find all that information in English from trusted sources.
To address this issue, in 2021, we launched the Japan Travel Awards, an initiative that assists Japanese companies and regions in acknowledging their most significant strengths and weaknesses simultaneously and, through the guidance of our panel judges, make their destinations more inclusive and diverse, thus appealing to a broader audience.
The Awards are free to enter. After a careful application screening, we conduct on-site evaluations, provide constructive feedback, and award destinations that truly impact the industry.
This is our second year only, and there's a long road ahead. However, praising the good and helping address what can still be done positively will help small and big businesses become more inclusive. Our ultimate goal is to make Japan an even more fascinating destination for any international traveler.
For more accessible destinations in other parts of Japan, visit Accessible Japan: www.accessible-japan.com
Wow. I loved this. So interesting and beautifully filmed.
Thank you, Neil! Appreciate it!
So great to see this! Japan is a wonderful place for accessible travel and great to see Fukushima on the map :)
Thank you, John. Yes, it really is...yet it's so rarely promoted. Wish we could see accessible content on every region's official tourism website.
Great video!
Thanks, Alex! :)
Great video, thanks for sharing! It's wonderful to see you highlight places like this that may not necessarily get the exposure otherwise.
Thank you, Taku. Really apprecite it!
Fascinating! Thanks for sharing. I went on a day trip to this area the other year.