Under the Barrier-Free Act established in 2006, newly built, rebuilt, or extended buildings with a total floor area exceeding 2,000 square meters are required to comply with accessibility regulations. As a result, the accessibility of small-scale facilities depends on the ordinances and policies of local governments. In practice, physical barriers in small-scale facilities often remain, forcing people with reduced mobility to give up on entering them. Therefore, this study evaluated the accessibility of building entrances through field surveys conducted in multiple areas, as well as interviews with local residents and officials, and proposes improvement measures tailored to regional characteristics.
Yamasaki et al. (2026) studied this question.