August 4, 2025
TOKUSHIMA – A powerful new video from Tokushima captures the struggles of guide dog users, from being turned away at restaurants to navigating everyday life, and urges for a crucial shift in public awareness.
The Tokushima Guide Dog Support Association, a public interest incorporated foundation, released the video on YouTube. In it, three visually impaired residents of the prefecture share insights into their daily lives and the challenges they face, notably highlighting instances in which their guide dogs are denied entry to restaurants and other establishments.
The association and its members hope the video will foster better understanding of guide dogs within the community.
The association works to raise awareness and lends guide dogs to those in need. To reach a younger audience, it produced the 31-minute video, which features Kenichi Mukai, 73, from Miyoshi; Katsuko Tsuruno, 60, from Itano; and Seiji Fujikawa, 60, from Tokushima.
The video closely follows efforts to raise awareness about guide dogs in elementary schools and shows users working with their guide dogs at local training facilities. It also explores their journeys from using a white cane to becoming guide dog users and outlines the support they wish they could receive from the public.
Mukai addressed the issue of “denial of accompaniment,” which refers to instances where guide dog users are refused entry or service at places like restaurants.
He has lived with Evan, his 7-year-old guide dog, since 2020, when his retinitis pigmentosa, a designated intractable disease, progressed and made walking with a white cane difficult. Disturbingly, after he started traveling with his guide dog, even restaurants that he had frequented told him, “Please don’t come here anymore.”
The 2002 Law on Assistance Dogs for Persons with Physical Disabilities defines three types of assistance dogs: guide dogs, hearing dogs for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, and mobility service dogs for individuals with physical disabilities.
In principle, assistance dogs cannot be refused entry to public facilities, transportation services and other establishments, including restaurants.
According to the association, there are currently seven guide dogs in Tokushima Prefecture. However, a managing director of the association, said that every guide dog user in the prefecture has been denied entry somewhere with their guide dog, indicating that understanding among public has not progressed.
In March, the Tokyo-based National Federation of All Japan Guide Dog Training Institutions released a survey in which 276 of the 576 respondents, or 48%, reported being refused entry with their guide dog last year. Most of these incidents occurred at restaurants.
Common reasons cited for refusal included “no precedent for acceptance” and concerns about “inconveniencing people with dog allergies or those who dislike dogs.”
“If someone has a dog allergy, we’re happy to make accommodations, like having the guide dog wait outside, provided we’re consulted first,” Mukai explained. “We hope to build a society where everyone is considerate of one another.”
He also noted that the video is accessible on the association’s official channel.