Canadian-born Barry Joshua Grisdale has used a wheelchair since he was four years old and became interested in Japan during high school. For the past decade, he has been living and working in Tokyo where he gained citizenship in 2016. His website Accessible Japan encourages tourists with disabilities to visit the country, providing accessibility information and tourist attraction reviews.
He explains his motivation behind Accessible Japan as follows: “when I first came to the country, there was really no information about accessibility. After living here myself for a number of years and seeing how great Japan’s accessibility is, I thought that there needed to be a resource for people interested in visiting.” He adds, “each person’s disability is different. What is easy for a person who is in a wheelchair, might be difficult for someone who is visually impaired–or the opposite”. He also shares tips, recommendations, and other visitors’ anecdotes, in addition to providing a platform for travelers to connect. He has served on local accessibility committees and was selected by Edogawa City to be a torchbearer for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics Games.
Note: CWAJ was founded in 1949 by a group of women, committed to education. Our primary mission is the provision of scholarships, including CWAJ Scholarship for the visually impaired (SVI).

Profile
Barry Joshua Grisdale (42) is originally from Toronto, Canada and became interested in Japan during high school. He refused to let his disability stop him from following his dream to live and work in Japan. He moved to Tokyo in 2007 and became a naturalized citizen in 2016. In addition to his role as manager in the marketing department for Azalee Group in Edogawa, he travels around Japan and reports on the accessibility of popular tourist attractions for his website, Accessible Japan, to encourage people with disabilities to come and visit the country he loves. He serves on an accessibility review board on transportation with MLITT and has been on judging panels for several Japan Tourism Agency accessible tourism grants as well as the Japan Travel Awards. He was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was six months old and is quadriplegic, and has used a wheelchair since the age of four.