Roger OngA few months ago, we featured Tabi no Tochu (meaning “On The Way” in English), an introduction of the guesthouse on its innovative usage of a sharing economy to provide a missing welfare need. Unfortunately, we didn’t go deeper to explore the inner workings of Tabi no Tochu.
Zenbird has the lucky opportunity to catch up with Enomoto once again to view Tabi no Tochu from a different light. You are in for a surprise, as the Enomoto shared, that the accommodation is just a small part for its success. It’s also in their approach in universal design.
Mineko Enomoto: Sharing Economy and Skills
In a comfy corner of Awa City in Tokushima prefecture, lies the newly built Tabi no Tochu, which means “On the Way” in English. It was launched in April earlier this year, and has already seen repeaters to the establishment. It offers a guesthouse for the elderly and the disabled, while leveraging on the sharing of skills to improve accessibility and care.
What is Guesthouse “Tabi no Tochu” and how it operates
To recap, Tabi no Tochu is a guesthouse in Tokushima prefecture, where traveling caregivers and traveling individuals with physical mobility needs (be it from disability or advanced age) can stay. The key word here is travel, because one of the things Tabi no Tochu facilitates is the accessibility of traveling for anyone who thinks they have to give up on traveling due to physical obstacles.
This brings along the discussion of universal design, that is the accessibility of surroundings or products for everyone. This, of course, includes anyone with disability and anyone of an advanced age.
“When you look at the bottleneck of what holds them back from traveling,” hinted Enomoto, “it’s the steep angles of the slopes. It’s the accommodations having inconvenient indoor designs. It’s the difficulty in sightseeing around the region. Tabi no Tochu overcomes all these obstacles we take for granted.”
Even though it opened in April this year and its website still in the works, the guesthouse has already seen many travelers from Tokyo, Ehime, and local Tokushima prefecture residents.
The 6 Power Rangers of Tabi no Tochu
The six co-founders did not set out to call themselves the six “Rangers”, but everyone around them found it more than apt.
Each member brings a skill or asset to the table. For example, one offered the house up for renovation into an accessible structure (in fact, the place was once offered another welfare service). Another is the owner of a welfare taxi service who would ferry the guests around the region.
Their presence is also similar to a heroic one. They are renovators (they did it by themselves), fundraisers, and staff. They empower guests to overcome obstacles and deliver an experience that the guests themselves had once given up on. But more importantly, like Power Rangers standing up to defend justice, these six Rangers of Tabi no Tochu stood up to tackle difficulties faced by caregivers in Japan.
The difficulties in welfare care in Japan
At what point do you decide to go beyond your tasked responsibilities? This is often the question faced by welfare staff and nurses. This is also the same in Japan.
In the welfare industry, caregivers face numerous concerns. In particular, caregivers often come across two areas of needs from their patients, physical and lifestyle. Physical requirements include transferring between bed and wheelchair, feeding, showering etc. Lifestyle needs include cooking, grocery shopping, laundry, etc.
However, the system in Japan only states the fulfilment of physical care. Even though this has allowed caregivers to excel in this aspect, there isn’t even a guideline about how they should respond to lifestyle related requests. This brings inconsistency in service, especially upon changing caregivers. It also brings frustration among caregivers as they become targets of comparison and judgement. So much so, extending a helping hand gets frowned upon, socially and legally.
For Enomoto, she believes that physical care alone is not complete caregiving. “It seems like there’s a lack of empathy if we only stick to the rules. Welfare should also encompass other needs, such as communication and meals, because these are connected to the emotional state of the patients. This is a dilemma that caregivers in Japan face.”
Focusing on travel as a solution
Through her extensive career in the welfare industry, Enomoto not only obtained the experience in welfare care, but also developed a listening ear.
“A common theme among [those with physical mobility difficulties] is one of giving up,” shared Enomoto. “Because of mobility barriers, they often give up on things they want to do, give up on places they want to go.
“As caregivers, we want to do something for them, but there is a limit to want we can do. Furthermore, with the boundaries between physical and lifestyle care, it makes it difficult to do so too.”
So, “travel” became the focus of what Enomoto wanted to refocus her knowledge and experience on. This was backed by family members of disabled and elderly too, as they also wanted to bring their family members on holidays.
Upon settling on the concept of a guesthouse where accessibility is the main focus, the six Rangers started to tie up with Tokushima Tourism Center. This collaboration allows them to have an additional channel for guests to discover their services, and garner local support (which explains their local popularity).
Starting with awareness, and developing it into empathy
Enomoto has always been in the front line of welfare. Since an early age, she discovered that she held a large capacity for empathy.
“I remember I was in elementary four when I first encountered a girl with down syndrome,” recalled Enomoto. “She was being bullied by the boys in school just because she was different. This was a time when we didn’t have education on what disability was. I felt like I had to do something, and called on the boys to stop bullying her.“
But that had a big impact on Enomoto as a child. Eventually, it started a series of activities for her, like seeking out to volunteer and participating in outreach programs for the elderly. But it was terrifying at first, especially first time entering a dark, gloomy home of an elderly that had a particular smell to it.
“But she was always very kind to me, giving me sweets to eat. That gap between expectations and reality was a learning point for me.”
And learning point is something that Enomoto wants to introduce into Tabi no Tochu. The guesthouse is available for reservations for anyone, not just people involved in the welfare industry. This exposes the guests to people with mobility issues without burden of commitment. This main goal is to create a better understanding with such exposure.
Societal changes can start from realization and understanding
And because of such exposure, we have a starting point to discuss about accessibility and universal design.
When talking about travel in Tokushima itself, one of the most famous visitor spots is the Shikoku 88 temples. Yet, such locations have steep slopes and many staircases. Accessibility becomes an issue for those with mobility concerns.
“It’s also important in times of disasters,” reminded Enomoto. “And it’s not just about making evacuation easy for all. We envision a society where everyone cares for each other. Even simple gestures like asking, ‘Are you alright?’ or ‘Do you need help?’ are important, and is something Tokushima prefecture is interested in developing.”
The heart of universal design in “Won’t you stop giving up on traveling?”
“Won’t you stop giving up on traveling?” is the catchphrase on Tabi no Tochu’s latest promotion. They want the physically inconvenienced to know that travelling options are not closed to them. And with the existence of the guesthouse, disabled individuals and the elderly can start enjoying travelling again.
And Enomoto has seen emotional change in such individuals. She shared an episode where an elderly who arrived at the guesthouse, initially unwilling to explore and do sightseeing because of mobility worries. However, on the last day, she told the staff that didn’t want the taxi, but wanted to try walking to the station on her on. Tabi no Tochu’s had removed that mental barrier that was holding that individual back from trying.
The bigger lesson behind “Won’t you stop giving up on traveling?”
However, there’s a bigger lesson behind this catchphrase: everyone needs to be involved in universal design. Even though some of us are still physically able to move around, we often find ourselves stopping short in tackling societal problems.
For example, when we look at the stairs at a tourist spot, we think that it’s impossible for wheelchairs to access. The thought process should not stop there. We should reframe the situation ask, “How can we overcome this for everyone to access?” That is very start of universal design.
“There is no right answer to caregiving,” Enomoto shared. “In an era where AI and robotics are being introduced in medicine, there is a consistent adapting to changes. I want Tabi no Tochu to show everyone that we can keep one thing constant, which is the mindset of helping others.”
[Additional Reference] CAMPFIRE crowdfunding platform
