Tactile Island: Blind with a Voice
A Conversation in the Kyoto Lighthouse with Taro Yamamoto (supervisor), Mr. Ikuo, Mr. Tokuoka, Mrs. Yoshitake, Mrs. Murai, Mrs. Naka and Mrs. Nishizawa on June 8, 2006.
By Kalna Katsuom and Markuz Wernli Saitô.
PROJECT ARCHIVE
Blind with a voice
Report (PDF 2.3MB)
Coin action (PDF)
YAMAMOTO: Everybody read the questions beforehand which are quiet respectful. Let's answer the questions taking turns and use appropriate terminology. The words were not rude but many people don't know what's rude or not. Maybe we can talk about use of language. Visual disability is a proper word to use. Shikakoshogaisha is appropriate but there are many reasons for being blind, some since birth, some turn blind over time.
Okay, let's practice to talk about blindness while we're introducing ourselves.
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Conversation with six members of the RakuRaku activity group for the blind at the Kyoto Lighthouse |
I am Mr. TOKUOKA who lives in Kyoto city. Born 1944 November 6. My eyesight went bad when I was fife years old. Now the left eye has no sight at all, the right eye has 0.3 with glasses.
I am Mrs. Machiko YOSHITAKE, lives in Horikawabukkoji area. Nice to meet you guys. I lost me eye sight when I was 25, 26 years old due to sickness. Born in 1937, December 30.
I am Mrs. Shigeko MURAI, born in 1965 January 2. (you're young!) Yes, I am young here. I can still use one eye but basically I since birth I have a very weak, limited eye sight. Most of the things I cannot see. But I could manage to see until elementary school but now one eye has 0.1, the other none.
I am Mrs. Fujiko NAKA, born 1942. Since birth I was strongly near-sighted and generally weak eye sight. When I was 30 years old I got the Glaucoma and went eventually fully blind. I cannot see the table in front of me and don't recognize people at all.
I am Mrs. Oshie NISHIZAWA lives in Mibu area which is known for Shinsengumi (historical young ambitious Samurai group). She lost her eye sight during her youth. She used to work in social welfare. Now she is fighting with an intractable disease and is losing her hearing ability. But she is smart and even she's not able to speak up loud Yamamoto-san will convey her opinion to the group.
Some things to keep in mind:
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Mr. Taro Yamamoto, supervisor of the RakuRaku group at Kyoto Lighthouse was an excellent moderator of the discussion |
I didn't expect so many people to join us. Now I don't feel like asking questions but just chatting with everybody.
YAMAMOTO: Yes everybody likes to chat here. We were looking forward to this opportunity.
How do you use the tactiles, do you have your own style to use them?
TOKUOKA: If there are tactiles, it's easier to walk.
YOSHITAKE: I am not using them.
NAKA: I am trained to walk with tactiles between 1997 to 98. At that time I was losing my eye sight. Tactiles helped me a lot then. I could walk straught. But because of my age I always need a guide now to go places. Sometimes I walk on tactiles, but if there is luggage in tactiles I don't have any ideas what's going on or what I should do. Sometimes in the subway station people are talking on the tactiles, but I have no choice than to bump into them. She always has to apologize: some people respond in apology but others get upset and tell her: "watch out!". If possible I want people to be more considerate for the purpose of tactiles.
IKUO: If there would be a machine where he could be interact with tactiles to find my way. If tactiles would have sound it would be very convenient.
YAMAMOTO: We did this experiment at Shijo station where we put up a machine on a white cane. It was a sound searching machine. While you're going it talked to you. But the hardware was very difficult. A couple of years ago. If the building has a response sensor then the machine indicates the place name. Lighthouse has this sensor so if a person has this system on the cane it emits a vibration or it talks. But the public system hasn't really caught up with this technology.
When you walk on the road without tactiles, how do you use the cane. Do you use the seeing-eye dog? Do you always bring your white cane along when you walk on the street?
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Mr. Tokuoka has little sight on one eye left and the yellow Tactile flooring guides his feet when walking |
NAKA: Yes, I do, even though there is a guide I still use my white cane. If I fully depend on the guide then I sometimes hit the electric pole, so I make sure that nothing is around me.
YAMAMOTO: We don't have any member who has a seeing eye dog but I believe Fujiki and Tokuoka have don't even white canes, do you?
FUJIKI. I don't
TOKUOKA: No I don't. Actually I do but I cannot use it. I still can see very little. If I wear shoes without thick sole, like leather or rubber shoes, I can feel the bumps of the tactiles.
YAMAMOTO: How do you feel when you wear high heels?
MURAI: They're slippery and I step with my feet in potholes.
YAMAMOTO: What about your feminity? Don't you want to wear heels?
MURAI: Well, I prefer the flat, rather worn out shoes, because I feel the ground better.
What about sandals or Zori?
NAKA: I don't wear sandals really, they're a kind of dangerous.
When you go to a place for the first time how does it work and how do you remember it?
YAMAMOTO: In the training course the teacher tells them "draw the map in your head".
Can you explain a bit more?
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Mrs. Murai is drawing a mental map (of passages and obstacles) when she arrives at places for the first time |
MURAI: Sometimes the teacher explains what's there on the West side. He also tells me if I go East the I will see it on my left or something like that. Then I try to draw a map according to what he said. Since I cannot draw a map on paper I just imagine what the surroundings might look like. I arrange the points described in my head.
NAKA: When I want to go to a certain place then as a logical consequence I need to ask somebody how I can get there. So I always bring the 'imaginary map' with me.
With that maps there are places which can be landmarks like source of sound, or the post office.
YAMAMOTO: They have to imagine how to go there before they go out. That' all in our training course.
NAKA: It's not possible to go out without any clear purpose or a clear destination, like the seeing people do. We don't go out when we just feel like to.
MURAI: Without purpose we don't go out. We always care for East, West, South and North. We cannot imagine to go places without help.
There is one person in Lighthouse (not in this group) who goes everywhere without fear. He just asks, and asks for directions. It's his inquisitive personality.... I am worrying where he cannot even find a telephone.
NAKA: It's scary, really. I used to catch taxis a lot. I went to the station by taxi and entered the concourse of Kyoto Station through the tactiles.
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Tactile flooring can be a trap when fast cyclists criss-cross these safety zones for the visually impaired |
MURAI: Sometimes pedestrians don't notice the white cane so they exclaim "what are you doing?". But we really don't know how we should go about it. Some people just don't pay attention at all what the white cane means.
YAMAMOTO: You must have been misunderstood often by people because you're without white cane and minimal eye sight...
Do you have any episodes from getting around in public?
NAKA: Yes I do have an episode. When I've been trained I did night walking with my teacher. It was also my fault and should have been more carefully... there was a bicycle oncoming. But since I was searching for my white cane I didn't really listen. So when I pulled out the white cane and was about to use it the the tip of the cane slipped into the spikes of the bicycle's front wheel. Of course the biker stopped and my cane was bent... At that time it was a training so my teacher brought me back to the center. But it would have happened by myself I would have been just stuck...
Mrs. Yoshitake, any episodes?
YOSHITAKE: I can't really walk so always when I go out I need a guide helper who pushed my wheel chair.
What makes for a good guide to you?
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Some Tactile flooring systems in Japan go all the way: sample on the Seika University campus in Kyoto |
MURAI: A good helper is telling me where we're going and where we're now which helps me to make an imaginary map. Sometimese I have guides who tell me anything at all. I can ask the guide in the end but lots is missing. Because I don't see and don't know anything at all...
NAKA: There is also a pleasure which is brought through the white cane. I was a super beginner and I practiced my white cane skills. I hadn't got used to it yet. It was a heavy, heavy rainy day. I got off the bus at Kawaramachi-Imadegawa station and there were some elementary school girls around me. I think they belonged to the Kyoto Prefectural Primary School. Maybe second or third grade, all girls. Anyway, since I was a beginner and clumsy I was really slow to get around. Then after a few minutes later the girls approached me asking " are you alright? Are you really all right?" I realized that these girls were watching me with anxiety for a while, so they made sure she was alright without help. I was moved and wanted to embrace them. I was impressed that they talked to me. It was my first experience and I really wanted to express my gratitude. It was totally unexpected and so nice experience. If I didn't have the white cane, it wouldn't have happened. Maybe the school kids thought "is that grandma okay?" For them I looked as in danger. This is a moment I will never forget.
TOKUOKA: That's right! When I graduated from elementary and junior highschool i had to work for a living. Since then until I turned 55 I worked with the weak sight of 0.3 in my right eye. Inititally I didn't notice but after a while of working there was a gap between normal and visually impaired people. I could see something which was right in front of me but I can't see things which come from my left side. So I hit into things and people very often. I went to the doctor when I was 25. I had already an eye surgery when I was 5 years old. The doctor asked me about my profession. I was a welder. The doctor recommended to quite this job because the sparks from welding have a worsening effect on my eyes. So I took up a valet parking job at a private security service. At that company they had an eye examination which I took with an eye mask I bought at a drugstore. The examiner asked me about the masked eye and I told him to write the same score like other eye. 30 years ago there were not many people working for security services. So the checkup was not every year. So I could stay with the company for about eight years. Nowadays these checkups are annually so I quite the job year after year. The good thing is that even though I don't drive by myself, no through the valet service I can estimate the distance between me and the car through headlights in day and night time, because of this job experience. I take it for granted but it is a part of my skills. I worked for about 20 companies. I don't think I had a hard time even if it sounds like that. At age 55 I came to the Lighthouse and that's why I am here.
FUSHIKI: I sometimes have difficulties crossing the road. But usually people ask me "would you like to cross?" I usually use the crossing sound signals but not all intersection have that. So I have to wait in front of the crossing and ask pedestrians for help. Because I am bringing the white cane people are more considerate and make space. So I prefer to have the cane with me.
NISHIZAWA: I can't really say clearly but somehow I am reluctant to bringing the white cane with me. So I try not to as much as I can. In Kansai the population is more careless towards the white can. I had my cane broken once. When I was at Shibuya station many notice my blindness. The station personal helped me buy tickets. I feel like there is a difference of recognition between Kansai and Kanto.
What do you think Murai-san? You are from Saitama...
MURAI: I am happy to hear that as a Kanto person but I am not sure if it is accurate because I didn't walk around with the white cane when living there.
Why not?
MURAI: I still could see at that time.
What about Fushiki-san, why don't you have that feeling?
FUSHIKI: Well, my neighbors they never seen me using a white cane. I've been living there for years. So I have no problems walking there even with not opening my eyes. But some neighbors think I am a kind of strange person, because I don't greet. If someone says "hi" then I do greet. But the trickiest thing is the bowing or nodding... this is the most troublesome thing to me. So I try to bow to everybody. But sometimes people just raise their hands which means "hi".
TOKUOKA: It's just my personal opinion but there is a Ward office near Kyoto station. From the station to the office is a scrumbled junction and I don't really appreciate this because people come from many directions. It's maybe very efficient since many can cross at the same time. But there more instances I bump into fellow pedestrians. This is the only scrambled junction in Kyoto and a kind of test case. But if someone asked me how I feel about it then i reply that's scary for me. Even though I have little eye sight it's still very scary.
How much they can see is very different and depends on the person. Some people have like a 'milkglass' eye sight, some have have a disparate levels of vision between their right and left eye. So the degree of blindness is a very different experience from person to person. This is important to note.
MURAI: I also have narrow vision so I am also scared.
TOKUOKA: When my wife is besides me she notifies me of obstacles but on my own it's almost impossible.
Can I take photos of the group here while we are talking?
MURAI: As long as you can take me like a beautiful woman (bijin) it's okay with me.
How do you recognize the sound signals on the pedestrian crossing? How do you know which sound you are supposed to follow?
NAKA: If you are trained you will recognize it because in Kyoto, East to West has a cuckoo bird sound. And North to South has a chirping (chicken bird) sound . Kyoto uses standardized sound signals. In Osaka they use songs instead of bird (an old Japanese song called Toryanse "please go ahead). Different prefectures use different sound guiding.
That must make it difficult to comprehend.
MURAI: Yes, it can be confusing.
NAKA: Yes, that's why I sometimes misunderstand. I also feel the movement of cars. At a crossing I hear the car and sound simultaneously. Especially at a crossing without traffic light/signal I have to use the sense for the flow (motion) of cars.
I like to ask you how you connect to people and how you recognize a person you met before.
MURAI: The voice is the only way I recognize. After several meetings I can sense the person. One time is not enough and I have to keep asking about the name.
What can you hear from a person's voice?
NAKA: Well, from the voice I can imagine she/he could be shy, or the person has a strong character, the personality... is that what you mean. I can sense that the person is maybe pretentious, or not really nice. I judge people based on their voices.
TOKUOKA: My neighbors they don't know that I am blind for 40, 50 years. But I always recognize them by their voices. Sometimes I don't say hello to them. One day I had my white cane with me and my neighbor said surprised, "wow, you have bad eyes, I had no ideas". There is no other way than through the voice.
NAKA: Since I lost my eye sight my intuition (sixth sense) and the sense of hearing have naturally improved.
MURAI: I am married and living with my mother-in-law. In the beginning of the day I always say "good morning" to hear and she replies. From that first tune I can judge if she is in a good or not so good mood. Just from her very first word of the day. Because the voice is the only way of judging my mother-in-law's feelings since I cannot see her face.
NAKA: It's just same like when you talk on the phone: you don't see the person's face. This judgement could be prejudiced but somehow this judgment comes to me easily because we naturally try to look deeper into people.
MURAI: Now my mom-in-law gets older and I don't care so much about her feelings. I care more for her physical needs or ailments. So what I perceive from her is changing.
Do you recognize when a person is smiling to you?
NAKA: Of course I do!
EVERYBODY: You mean smiling? Of course we do!
NAKA: For example I recognize if the person talks with a smooth-tongue or telling me something with a big smile on his face...
I understand. Feelings and voice are very important for you but what about smell and touch?
NAKA: Well, of course I smell if the person who smokes, or drinks alcohol. Because I don't drink and don't like it so I am more sensitive to these smells. But I don't judge people based on their smell. Of course I smell garlic but it has no influence on my impression. If the person wears a nice perfume I can remember that and it becomes part of my person's memory.
What about touching, shaking hands when you greet. Among good friends we hug or kiss each other in Europe, and I am glad to receive a strong hand grip.
TOKUOKA: I think it's the same for us too. By the way Yamamoto told us that a foreigner would come to us to do an interview with us. First I was a bit upset but when you started talking in Japanese I was relieved...
The blind people are very focused on listening to people. It doesn't mean that they have better listening ability than others. The physical ability doesn't change. Some people have better sense of taste or smell than other. Blind are only different to normal people in that sense that they are really focused on listening and what they are doing. They are just much more mindful and conscious.
NAKA: Since we don't have a touching culture like Europe, the feeling of touching is not so familiar. But touching I don't know about the relationship between persons, but it means a lot to me when I touch things. For example shoes or clothes. First I touch things and feel it and try it.
Now we have the shuttle bus to bring everybody home. This was a good opportunity. If you guys want to have another opportunity to talk about the blind people's sensibility. Every week is too much, but we can meet again.
NANA: Maybe you want to ask more to make good documentary film. I am looking forward to seeing you guys again.
Sure, we would love to.
TOKUOKA: There are many cheerful people in RakuRaku group. My life really changed since I joined this fun community. There are a few people who have worse eyes than me but they have a strong willpowere to live fully. So I would like to ask 'normal' people to come to meet us.
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Visually impaired know the importance of colors and indicate their clothing with subtle tactile labels... |
TOKUOKA: You would be impressed how we have lunch, how we eat. If you have just five, ten minutes drop by and you see our efforts.
KALNA: Yes, absolutely!
YAMAMOTO: Of course, people who come here are one section of the blind. They are open enough and cheerful to come here, they have a positive attitude towards life. We shouldn't forget that there are blind individuals who are not like the RakuRaku mates. Also, people who come on Thursday tend to be more talkative and opinionated. If you come back please do so on the same day.
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invited us on June 8, 2006 to a very engaged conversation with their RakuRaku group, a daytime activity program for visually impaired who are residing outside this center for the blind.
We are grateful that Miyuki Koichi from HachiHachi Café introduced us to Taro Yamamoto who did a fantastic job moderating between the visually impaired and us the artists.
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