Being handicapped.

The English language ability of the Japanese people is well known. They are famous for their misspellings in English, usually called Engrish. And although it is very funny to see those misspellings on all kinds of products, like food, shampoo and soap and especially shops, It’s a bit of a sour laugh I’m having. Because I am exactly experiencing the same kind of difficulties in a language which isn’t my mother tongue.
In the two years in Leiden I learned quite some kanji but here in Japan they are everywhere, on every street corner there are peeking up unknown ones. It’s definitely going to help me to learn all 2000 of them but for now I’m only feeling puzzled.
For all those foreigners they luckily the roads nowadays have romanji underwriting and temples and shrines are also sometimes indicated in Japanese. But still many warnings and explanations are in Japanese and if you then don’t know the kanji’s you’re at loss.
So at times I feel quite handicapped in my daily life, when I don’t know whether or not I’m allowed to do something. This kind of handicap is not a real problem because many Japanese understand that you’re a foreigner and you're Japanese might not be sufficient and they forgive you if you make mistakes.
A long time the attitude by the Japanese towards the physically or mentally disabled persons in Japan was not so kind. Although there were of course handicapped people, approximately 3,5 million, you would not come across many just walking around the streets. There was still a taboo against them and disabled people resided at special centers or were kept at home.
The thing that surprised me when I went to a temple in the Gion district was not that it was clearly indicated in English but that they had a special entrance for wheelchairs. And come to think of it, in the 4 days I’ve been strolling the streets I have come across at least 8 people in wheelchairs. And I can’t recall seeing one 5 years ago, neither in Fukuoka or Nara.
I’m not sure what caused it but it seems like disabled people are finding a place in the Japanese society, not on the side like before, but more integrated in the rest of society.
I can’t tell how far this process of integration is but it sure seems like the first necessary steps have been undertaken.