Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan closed on 13 October 2025, and we collected the two mobile care hoists installed at the East and West Accessibility Centers.

“If there were hoists in toilets away from home, I could go to the places I want to visit.”

Voices like this prompted a project to introduce hoists for toilet use at the Expo.

For people who use care hoists in daily life, the absence of a suitable hoist in toilets away from home can be a barrier to going out and participating in society. This project installed mobile care hoists at the East and West Accessibility Centers, creating an environment in which people who needed them could use them.

The project was informed by the Changing Places Toilets initiative, which began in the United Kingdom and is being promoted more widely.

Changing Places Toilets provide sufficient space, a height-adjustable adult changing bench, a care hoist and other facilities. They are being introduced particularly in the UK to support people with disabilities, their families and carers in going out and participating in society.

At the International Diaper Forum held at Festival Station at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan on 25 June 2025, Jenny Miller and Fiona Souter of PAMIS, who are involved in Changing Places Toilets, presented examples of how these facilities are installed and used in the UK. Through real cases, they shared with audiences in Japan not only the features of the equipment, but also how improved toilet environments change outings, daily life and social participation for people with disabilities and their families.

It was a valuable opportunity to learn directly from established overseas initiatives and hear in Japan from the people putting them into practice.

Our representative, Hiroshi Yagi, contributed to planning and implementing the project as Deputy Representative Director of the Japan Welfare and Medical Fashion Association, one of the organizing and planning organizations.

The Expo project has ended, but we see this as a beginning. We hope to carry its experience beyond a one-off example into other facilities, events and public spaces, passing the baton received from overseas on to the next people who will put it into practice.

This project was made possible by the help of many people. We sincerely thank everyone who supported it.

Organizers and planners
Japan Welfare and Medical Fashion Association
WheeLog! (NPO)
DPI-Japan (NPO)

Operations
Japan Welfare and Medical Fashion Association
Abilities Care-net Co., Ltd.

Equipment support
Abilities Care-net Co., Ltd.

Related websites
Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan official website
https://www.expo2025.or.jp/universalinfo/facilities/

Care hoist loans at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan
https://jwmf.jp/hoist/

Changing Places Toilets
https://www.changing-places.org/

PAMIS
https://pamis.org.uk/

International Diaper Forum
https://jwmf.jp/idf2025/

Toward installing care hoists in Expo toilets
https://wheelog.com/hp/archives/32224