TOKYO REPORT: Japan Starts Platform Safety Training for Visually Impaired

Tokyo, April 27 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s transport ministry has launched a training program to help people with visual impairments use white canes to navigate railway station platforms safely, as part of efforts to prevent falls and other accidents. With more time needed to install platform screen doors–widely regarded as one of the most effective ways to prevent such accidents–the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism views the initiative as an urgent interim measure. The ministry plans to promote the program among railway operators nationwide and encourage them to introduce such training. Bridges with No Railings In March, the media were invited to observe a walking training session held on a platform at East Japan Railway Co.’s Shinagawa Station in Minato Ward, Tokyo, using actual train cars. The session brought together six participants with visual impairments and six mobility instructors, who worked in pairs. The instructors taught basic techniques for safe movement, including how to walk while keeping the tip of a white cane in contact with the ground and sweeping it from side to side. Participants were also taught to stop immediately if they sensed they had reached the platform edge. The visually impaired participants practiced locating train doors by using their hands to feel along the side of the train. After confirming the position of the train floor with a white cane, they boarded by placing one heel carefully onto the verified surface. In addition, the instructors taught them how to distinguish train doors from the gaps between cars, where falls are more likely to occur. A participant with a visual impairment said: “Stations without platform screen doors are sometimes compared to bridges without railings. We walk through them with a constant sense of danger.” “Accidents can be prevented if people have a solid grasp of the basics, ” he added. “I hope as many people as possible will come to understand the importance of mobility training.” JR East provided the train cars and the venue for the drill, while representatives from 17 other railway operators attended as observers. A transport ministry official said, “We are asking railway companies to incorporate such drills into their staff training programs.” One instructor who took part in the drill called for “an environment in which station staff at any station will cooperate in the training whenever this is requested.” Platform Doors Installed for 14 Pct Accidents in which people who are blind or have limited vision fall from railway station platforms continue to occur. According to the ministry, the annual average number of such falls was 53 between fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2024. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual average stood at 65 during fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2019. While the overall number has been declining, there has still been an average of one case per year in which a person who fell onto the tracks came into contact with a train. As of March 2025, platform screen doors had been installed for 2,830 tracks, representing only 14 pct of the total. Even at stations serving an average of 100,000 or more passengers a day, installation had been completed for only 621 tracks, roughly half of the total. Following a series of accidents in 2020 in which blind and restricted-vision people fell from platforms at JR Nippori and Asagaya stations in Tokyo, the transport ministry established a study committee. The committee concluded that new technologies, such as using artificial intelligence to detect white canes in security camera footage and alert station staff to provide assistance, as well as proper white cane use, would be effective in preventing falls from platforms. It then began developing a mobility training program. A group of orientation and mobility specialists in Japan, which was a member of the study committee, took the lead in the effort and drew up the program in November 2025 after repeated trial runs. Among people with visual impairments, “many are not totally blind but retain some vision, while for various reasons, some cannot carry a white cane or are unaware of mobility training,” said Kyoko Horiuchi, a senior official of the specialist group. She stressed the importance of training, including instruction in how to ask others for help. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]