Travel for All - a flying wheelchair from Japan -

What's new !!    2020 / 03 / 01   new Travel Photo " Saudi Arabia "

175 countries world travel on wheelchair.
I hope that everyone can go anywhere they want.

name	KIJI ( Hideto Kijima )
birth year	1973
nationality	Japan ( live in Osaka )
disability	Spinal Cord Injury Th-11 ( lower body paralysis )
job	writer / accessible consultant / speaker “ Japan Accessible Tourism Center “ president
career	1997 - 2004 Marketing planner of advertisement agency "Dentsu" 2004 - Freelance, Barrier Free Institute 2011 - Japan Accessible Tourism Center
book	" Flying Wheelchair " 2001 in Japanese " Love Wheelchair " 2005 in Japanese " Wheelchair traveler across Japan " 2008 in Japanese " A Flying Wheelchair " 2009 in Taiwan Chinese " Wheelchair in unexplored world " 2014 in Japanese
hobby	watching soccer / cooking / eating
specialty	traveling / swimming / trail orienteering
language	Japanese / English / little Italian
family	marriage in 2005. 3 daughters.
dream	going to the universe. I don't need my wheelchair because of weightlessness.

When I was 17 years old, I broke my back bone while playing rugby in high school.
It was a terrible sport accident in 1990 and I became a wheelchair man.
Nothing changed on my side except that I could not walk.
But the behavior of people around me changed completely, 180 degrees.
Society and people would look at me as being poor, miserable, and unfortunate.
Also whenever I wanted to do something, everybody said
" Don't do that because there is no equipment " " It is a rule, so you cannot do that ".

I think it is OK to let people do what they want as long as they are ready to take responsibility.
I was so disappointed with Japanese society for not giving us a chance.

First summer vacation in university, I stayed in USA for one month and was really shocked.
I forgot that I was on a wheelchair while in USA. This was my first trip overseas.
It was wheelchair accessible almost everywhere including town, shops, transportation .
No barrier. Above all, no people eyes. Wheelchair was not special and I felt like a citizen.

In USA, people would first see me as an individual person.
But in Japan, people looked at "disability " before individual character.
Disability is recognized by society. So if society changes, disability may disappear.

Understanding differences, respecting personality, giving equal opportunity,
I wish for a better society and peace, full of love and smile !!

e-mail always welcome !

Travel money come from my work (travel coordination, accessible consultant, writing and speech). My parents only gave money 1st and 3rd travel. When I was a university student, I worked as a private teacher, school counselor and in a post office. After graduation, I got a nice job at advertisement agency and good income for 7 years. I published my first book in 2001. Travel money (39 countries until then) back from the book selling.

No money for my sport accident from high school. No high insurance. No high pension. No charity. No lottery winning. But I had a future and passion to be independent when I was injured 17 years old. Now travel is one of my job, writing, guide, speech and consulting.