Connecting Kansai International Airport and Expo 2025 through care hoists

We carried out the Sky Diaper Project as one of the side events of O-MU-TSU WORLD EXPO.

Around the world, Changing Places Toilets (CPT), equipped with large changing benches, care hoists and other facilities, are being developed so people who need assistance can change diapers while away from home.

A large changing bench or similar facility is needed to change diapers while out. Without a care hoist, however, some people have difficulty transferring from their wheelchair onto the bench.

Until I learned about CPT, I too had not realized that some people need care hoists in toilets. Yet people who need this equipment do exist, and its necessity is not sufficiently understood in society.

Our work at Barrier Free 2025

At Barrier Free 2025 in April 2025, we installed a care hoist in a temporary diaper changing area. Listening to people who actually used it reaffirmed the need to expand access to places where people can change diapers with confidence while out.

A temporary installation at Kansai International Airport

From June 19 to 30, 2025, a care hoist and bed were temporarily installed at Kansai International Airport, one of the international gateways to Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan. Although the installation was not inside a toilet, it provided a place where people needing assistance could change diapers.

Equipment at the O-MU-TSU WORLD EXPO venue

At O-MU-TSU WORLD EXPO, held on June 24, 2025, at EXPO Hall “Shining Hat,” we provided a care hoist and bed in a multipurpose room inside the venue. By connecting the world, Kansai International Airport and the Expo venue, the initiative supported mobility and social participation for people needing assistance through appropriate facilities.

The Sky Diaper Project’s purpose is to consider not just diapers themselves but the outings, social participation and lives of the people who use them.

We hope this practical example helps expand the number of places where people can access care hoists and large changing benches.