Chapter V. Building the Foundations for a Comfortable Living Environment (including barrier-free town planning, housing, transportation, information services, crime and disaster prevention and other measures to enable persons with disabilities to move about freely outside the home and at work)
  Section 1.Measures to Create a Comfortable Living Environment for Persons with Disabilities

Chapter V. Building the Foundations for a Comfortable Living Environment (including barrier-free town planning, housing, transportation, information services, crime and disaster prevention and other measures to enable persons with disabilities to move about freely outside the home and at work)

Section 1.Measures to Create a Comfortable Living Environment for Persons with Disabilities

• Welfare-based town enhancements are planned, wide sidewalks and elevators are installed, and buildings and structures are being modified or improved to allow them to be used by persons with disabilities to create an environment in which persons with disabilities are able to easily access all areas of town, live independently and actively participate in society.
  
  
• The Law for Promoting Easily Accessible Public Transportation Infrastructure for the Aged and the Disabled (Transportation Accessibility Improvement Law) went into force in November 2000. The government has also formulated the Basic Policy for Promoting Accessibility to Transportation to promote comprehensive and scheduled improvement of convenience and safety of public transportation by the aged/ disabled.
  
  
• Projects are implemented to widen footpaths in rural, mountain and fishing village communities.
  
  
• The government has been providing assistance to local governments for community development projects based on universal design that promote the building of cooperative towns.
  
  
• Steady improvements have been made in comprehensive barrier-free urban planning, including the development of urban facilities (e.g., roads and parks designed with consideration for persons with disabilities) and comprehensive urban development such as land readjustment projects and urban renewal projects. Appropriate and systematic plans to establish social welfare facilities in city centers are advanced.
  
  
• To ensure that the needs of persons with disabilities are properly taken into account when building structures, barrier-free environments are established in government buildings and facilities. The same is encouraged in the private sector through the provision of loans.
  
  
• The 8th Five-year Programme for Housing Construction, launched in FY2001, gives as an aim the provision of housing that can continue to be used by persons with low functional capacity or those who have become disabled persons.
  
  
• In addition to providing housing designed and equipped with the needs of persons with disabilities in mind, households with persons with disabilities have been given a preferential selection rate in lotteries for public housing facilities and rented public housing. Buildings that integrate residential and social welfare facilities are promoted in the context of public housing renewal and urban renewal projects.
  
  
• The Government Housing Loan Corporation (GHLC) offers preferential interest rates for housing designed in consideration of the needs of persons with disabilities. GHLC has also made more loans available for relatively large-scale housing in which persons with disabilities live.
  
  
• Park facilities are made easier for persons with disabilities to use by designing wider paths with gentle slopes, reducing the height of curbstones, placing handrails on paths and installing user-friendly lavatories; persons with disabilities are also admitted free of charge into national government parks. In addition, river and coastal facilities such as revetments and seawalls are designed with gently-sloped paths and ramps are installed in portside areas, all to improve access by persons with disabilities.
  
  
• Accessibility of public transport is being improved to enable persons with disabilities to travel safely by public transport with little physical burden. In August 2001, the Guidelines for Accessible Passenger Facilities for Public Transportation, applicable to passenger facilities covered by the Transportation Accessibility Improvement Law, were formulated with universal design in mind. To address issues still outstanding in the course of compiling these earlier Guidelines, the Guidelines for the Movement Facilitation Program for Public Transport Systems by the Use of Audible Means were drafted in October 2002, and guidelines on warning guide blocks to be installed referred to in "Platform at Railway Station" were put together in December of that year.
  
  
• Incorporating the concept of universal design, the Guidelines for Accessibility to Roads were drawn up in December 2002 to provide greater access to roadways by all users, especially persons with disabilities and the elderly, by widening lanes on walkways, improving sidewalks by fixing slopes and ramps, installing elevators and other pedestrian support facilities, and setting up rest spaces.
  
  
• Tax incentives, subsidies and loans are offered to assist in the installation of elevators and escalators in public transport terminals and in the introduction of vehicles that are easy to use for persons with disabilities.
  
  
• Guidelines incorporating the concept of universal design have been formulated to promote barrier-free environments through which even the elderly and persons in wheelchairs can pass without worry. Constructing wide sidewalks, improving existing sidewalks by fixing slopes and ramps, and installing elevators and escalators at pedestrian overpasses are among the efforts being undertaken to improve accessibility.
  
  
• Community zones are established in residential areas, disabled-friendly traffic signal systems and clearly visible directional arrows are installed, and toilets for persons with disabilities are built in service areas. Research and development are also pursued on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) using state-of-the-art information technologies, including Pedestrian Information and Communication Systems (PICS) that provide pedestrians with information needed for safe passage via mobile information terminals.
  
  
• The "Omnibus Town Concept" promotes the introduction of buses with no entrance steps, buses equipped with wheelchair-lifts, and other types of bus for use by persons with disabilities and others who have difficulty in using public transport.
  
  (Principal measures implemented)
  1. Tax incentives have been offered since FY2001 to encourage the introduction of taxis with ramps and street cars with lowered floors.
  2. The revision of the Road Traffic Act (promulgated on 20 June 2001) provides for the protection of pedestrians with disabilities by police officers and sets out prohibitions on the police pulling over ordinary vehicles displaying sign stickers for disabled persons.

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