Disabled people should not take trains -- at least that's what Take Maruyama, who needs a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy, was told by his family when he was growing up in a small town in Tochigi Prefecture. Fortunately, he didn't listen.
Fast forward a few decades. On Oct. 1, Maruyama will lead a demonstration of hundreds of disabled people outside Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, in a bid to pressure the government to make public transportation more accessible to those with disabilities.
A major transportation hub connecting many of the city's main lines, Shinjuku Station is Japan's busiest train station, with a whopping 1.6 million people passing through it daily. It is also one of the most inaccessible stations for those with disabilities, according to the National Assembly of Disabled People International Japan (DPI), the group sponsoring the demonstration.
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