There are two good things I have experienced while studying at Kinugasa International Campus (KIC). They are: high levels of academic activity and friendship. Ritsumeikan University (Rits) is allegedly one of the best privately-funded universities in Japan, though state universities have higher prestige. Teachers are enthusiastic about teaching and research. Its fame is constantly threatened by the "great competition" among colleges brought about both by the decreasing birth rate and the increasing demands of industry to provide human resources with high intellect or professional skills. One of the wonderful things about studying at Rits is the opportunity to attend lectures given by well-known researchers from other universities. There were few such opportunities when I did my undergraduate work at another university. It may be due to the prestige of Rits, or because there are many universities near Rits, which means it is easy for researchers to get together.

General Information

Rits has two campuses, Kinugasa International Campus (KIC) in Kyoto Prefecture, and Biwako Kusatsu Campus (BKC) in Shiga Prefecture. They are two hours away from each other. BKC, which houses three faculties (economics, business administration, and science & engineering), is much newer than KIC, so I assume the accessibility is much better there.

Those who wish to work on an undergraduate degree can do the four-year program designed for foreign students to study in an environment that is fully integrated with Japanese students. For this option applicants must both apply to and be accepted directly by Rits.

Rits also has a one-year program, both for undergraduates and postgraduates, which consists of the same courses that can be taken in the four-year program. It is called International Student Exchanges, and students must attend a participating university, such as American University, Illinois College, Oklahoma University, Pittsburgh University, Rutgers University, or The State University of New Jersey. The selection of the applicants for this program is done at the student’s home university.

All lectures and seminars are in Japanese, so foreign students who wish to study at Rits are required to have the good command of the Japanese language. Applicants must pass the Japanese-language test in order to be accepted to Rits.

For the entrance examinations, dictation would be used for physically disabled applicants who cannot write. In that case, the examination time would be longer. Braille examinations would also be prepared if necessary. Applicants with learning disabilities might be accepted through the American-style Admissions Office Special Entrance Examinations.

Disabled Student Interview

The following statement is based on an interview I conducted with a disabled student, who wishes to remain anonymous, at Rits. Due to impairment in the nerves in his eyes, he is almost completely blind. Studying at Rits has been a wonderful experience for him. He mentioned that having gone to a school for the blind before entering Rits made it difficult for him to adjust to attending a regular school where he was faced with his situation in a "normal" society. The challenges he had to overcome at Rits include: difficulty getting textbooks, handouts, and other materials and resources in Braille, communication with staff, professors, and other students, and culture shock. His partial sight makes it difficult for him to recognize his acquaintances and friends, causing him to have to make a great effort to find the people he wants to speak with.

Classroom etiquette was also a surprising new challenge. Students in Japan typically chat in lectures because they know they can pass their exams by simply regurgitating what the teacher wrote on the blackboard during the course of the class. This is a very difficult system for someone who cannot see the blackboard. There are few opportunities to discuss disability issues at Rits, due to the lack of disability officers, which is also a problem. He describes the transition, from a somewhat segregated school for the blind to the mainstream society found on the Rits campus, as being like traveling to a foreign country and experiencing culture shock.

He mentioned the Kyoto Light House, an organization that provides the blind with relevant services, such as an archive of Braille and audio books, Braille-publishing, and the training of daily activities (e.g., walking exercise). He also talked about a group called Kansai Student Library, which is made up of blind students and Braille transcribers. They advocate the interests of blind students on campus. They also organize social gatherings aimed at increasing contact between the blind and those who can see.

When I asked about the conditions in Kyoto for people with disabilities, he responded that he could not speak for disabled people in general, but that he feels there are relatively few people involved in blind issues considering the number of students in the Kyoto region.

His advice to foreign students who are considering studying in Japan is to contact an organization related to their specific disabilities. The organizations can advocate for students when negotiating with the colleges they applied for. This is very important, considering the fact that so few Japanese universities have staff dedicated to disability issues.

Attitudes Towards Disabled People

There are three things to be said here. First, universities are often more understanding than Japanese society in general. They are fairly eager to help disabled students overcome the obstacles involved in being accepted. Second, younger people are more open-minded in general. I feel that university students are often more generous in helping us. Third, I hear that Kyoto boasts its tradition as a center of disabled activism and that many disabled people are able to live independently.

My recommendation to students who are thinking about studying in Japan is to never give up. You may find an unenthusiastic attitude at Rits, but that does not mean that it is completely impossible for you to accommodate yourselves to the college. Japanese organizations usually have opportunistic policies for dealing with the problems of disabled people. They rarely prepare for our coming ahead of time, but they try their best to integrate us once we are there.

Accessibility

The university does not provide me with special services such as note-taking, help moving from one classroom to another, attendance to my lunch and so on. These things have been taken care of by my mother and many of my friends. This kind of arrangement of attendance has many bad points including my dependence on my mother. It has, however, also helped me to integrate fully into mainstream campus life. It has often been the case that I have recruited a student as an attendant and have later become friends with him or her. This arrangement was adopted when I was an undergraduate at another university, and I hear that many disabled students manage their lives in a similar manner.

The University will make every effort not to schedule classes in inaccessible buildings when a student with a disability wishes to participate. This usually works out very well, though there have been times when I have had to ask that a class be relocated, which can take a long time.

Many research groups also work in buildings without the elevators or ramps needed to make the rooms they use accessible. In that case, my friends carry me up the stairs. In Japan, being carried is an acceptable alternative to wheelchair accessibility in buildings.

There are few services available to the handicapped once they are accepted into the college, except for relocation of the classroom used for the course they take, if necessary. The needs of disabled students have almost always been met by their fellow students.

There is one building, which is NOT wheelchair-accessible, at KIC in Kyoto. It matters little for undergraduate students because it is used only for symposiums. As is mentioned above, if courses scheduled in this building are attended by a disabled student, it can be relocated. There are also some classrooms with desks screwed to the floors, and some that are a little too small to enter with a wheelchair.

There are very few wheelchair accessible social places, even the McDonalds is not wheelchair accessible. A person who uses a wheelchair must be willing to be carried in order to live in Japan.

As for the transportation system, Kyoto runs buses on regular lines. Some of their buses are equipped with lifts. I used the subway every Tuesday during one semester, and found the facilities are fairly barrier-free and the staff members are quite ready to help the passengers with special needs. The Kyoto Transportation Bureau, which run buses and the subway system, are:

http://www.city.kyoto.jp/kotsu/

http://www.city.kyoto.jp/kotsu/english/e_guide.htmascii

The first web address is for the home page, and the second for the one-page general guide about their business in English.

In Japan, some of the wider streets have "screws" (raised aggregate) for blind people to find their way by searching for the "screws." Also on some streets there are traffic lights which are designed to inform the blind of when it is okay to cross.

Housing

Rits does not have dormitories. Foreign students live in either the dormitories run by charitable organizations, Ritsumeikan Uji High School Dormitory, or in rented houses or apartments. The International Center at Rits says all the dorms are inaccessible.

The Center for Domestic and Foreign Students acts as an agent for finding accommodations. They have never had any disabled clients, but they will try to find a suitable place for disabled students before their arrival. Students will need to contact them ahead of time to give them the specific details of their living arrangement needs.

Disabled Student Services

The responsibility is split between the secretariat of each academic department on one hand, and the curriculum department of the central administration on the other. The admissions office also has a disability officer who can provide some information.

Disabled international students who wish to apply are strongly advised to contact the International Center prior to their application in order to discuss disability-related accommodations. This is also where foreign students can get information about visa issues, health insurance, accommodations, grants and student loans, entrance exams for foreign students, courses for international students, and opportunities to increase contact with Japanese people.

The International Center provides no services especially designed for students with disabilities. However, international students may be eligible for the welfare provisions available to Japanese disabled citizens, so they may want to investigate this option.

The Center for Supporting the Lives of Handicapped People can answer inquiries about the resources available in Kyoto. Please compose your requests in Japanese, as they are not equipped to answer English-language requests.

A Note for People with Learning Disabilities (LD)

In Japan LD has only been recognized quite recently. The Education Ministry published their official definition around July 2000. Children with LD receive little support from their schools or community. Support schemes are now beginning, but are aimed at primary-school pupils. Some students with LD have succeeded in graduating from college but they have had to manage independently with almost no assistance except that of their families. Most people cannot imagine people with LD studying in colleges. In Kansai Region, where our university is located, there is only one organization for children with LD. It is a branch of the YMCA and is quite far away from Kyoto. Information is available on the website of the Learning Disability Association of Tokyo http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hp/keyaki/. In addition Keiko Kumagai, a researcher on LD at Tsukuba University, welcomes inquiries on the situation in Japan concerning people with LD. Tukuba is famous as the national center of research of pedagogy and teacher education, including special education. Contact Ms. Kumagai via e-mail at kkumagai@human.tsukuba.ac.jp.

Contact Information

Admissions Office Ritsumeikan University
Web: (In Japanese) http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/kic/522/index-j.htm

Kyoto Light House
Murasaki-no Hana-no bo cho 11
Kita-ku
Kyoto-shi
603-8302
Tel: 81-75-462-4579?
FAX: 81-75-464-9447
Web: ( In Japanese): http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/org/kyoto-lh/
E-mail: mailto:kyoto-lh@mbox.kyoto-inet.or.jp

Kansai Student Library
Web: (In Japanese) http://sl.soc.or.jp/

The Center for Domestic and Foreign Students, Foundational Juridical
Kyoto Gakusei Soudansho.
Postal Code: 606-8203
Address: 2-24, Tanaka Sekita-chou, Sakyou-ku, Kyoto-shi
Tel/Fax: 81-75-771-0667
Website: http://www.naigai.or.jp/
Email: kyoto@naigai.or.jp

Center for Supporting the Lives of Handicapped People
Tel: 81-75-972-2880
Fax: 81-75-982-2340
Address: Otokoyama Sasatani 2, Yawata-shi, Kyoto-fu
Postal Code: 614-8372
Home Page(Japanese): http://www.mediawars.ne.jp/~tudukisc/
Email: tudukisc@mediawars.ne.jp

Disabled Student Services
Ritsumeikan University
Postal Code: 603-8577
Address: 56-1 Tohji-in Kita-machi Kita-ku Kyoto-shi
Tel: 81-75-465-1111
Website: http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/

International Student Services
Tel: 81-75-465-8230
Fax: 81-75-465-8160
Email: kokusai@askic.kic.ritsumei.ac.jp
Web: http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/se/info/admissions.html

Japan Center for Independent Living
Postal Code: 601-8022
Kita-matsu-no-ki-machi 13-1, To-kujo, Minami-ku, Kyoto-shi, Japan
Tel: 075-682-7950
Fax: 075-682-7951
Web: http://plaza8.mbn.or.jp/~jcil/
E-mail: gojcil@dream.com

Takeshi Hosono, who has cerebral palsy, did the doctoral program at Ritsumeikan (Rits) Graduate School of International Relations, where he studied Scottish Nationalism. He also received his Master’s degree at Rits. He can be contacted via email at t-hosson@m3.kcn.ne.jp.