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    Case study · Maebashi, Gunma · Japan

    A toilet that
    speaks for itself in Gunma.

    How the Japan Blind Life Design Association (メジンス) brought NaviLens to the Mayudama Net Festa at the Gunma Welfare Centre — 69 visually impaired people voice-guided to the accessible toilet and inside the cubicle.

    Three women from the Mejins team holding an A4 NaviLens code sign next to the sprinkler control room at the Gunma Welfare Centre during the 6th Mayudama Net Festa
    Japan Blind Life Design Association (Mejins) team with a NaviLens code at the Mayudama Net Festa, 11 Aug 2023.

    69

    People who took part in the NaviLens workshop on 11 Aug 2023

    6th ed.

    Mayudama Net Festa · Gunma Prefectural Welfare Centre

    メジンス

    Japan Blind Life Design Association — Mejins

    Maebashi

    Shin-Maebashi-machi 13-12 · Gunma Prefecture

    Client

    Japan Blind Life
    Design Association

    The 視覚障害者ライフデザインhub (Japan Blind Life Design Association, aka «メジンス / Mejins») works so visually impaired people in Japan can «live the way they want» — informing, training and connecting people, companies and public bodies.

    The rollout took place at the Mayudama Net Festa, the annual festival organised by the Mayudama Net network — Gunma Braille Library, Gunma Visual Welfare Association and partners — at the Gunma Prefectural Welfare Centre (Maebashi, Shin-Maebashi-machi 13-12).

    § The challenge

    Walking alone into a toilet you don't know.

    1. 01

      Unknown toilets, recurring anxiety

      For a visually impaired person, entering a new toilet alone is one of the most stressful experiences: they don't know where the bowl is, where the door lock is or how the flush works.

    2. 02

      An annual event, an opportunity

      The Mayudama Net Festa brings the Mayudama network together every August at the Gunma Welfare Centre (前橋市新前橋町13-12): Gunma Braille Library, Gunma Visual Welfare Association and the Japan Blind Life Design Association (Mejins).

    3. 03

      Trying NaviLens in everyday life

      Mejins proposed installing NaviLens codes along the corridor leading to the barrier-free toilet and inside the cubicle itself, so each participant could check — cane in hand, phone raised — how the app guides them to the door and describes the bowl, the lock and the flush.

    Woman with a white cane pointing her phone at the NaviLens sign next to the accessible toilet door, with a yellow tactile strip on the floor

    § Solution

    One A4 print,
    one voice, one toilet.

    Mejins printed «Empowering visually impaired» signs with a unique NaviLens code — detectable up to 18 m away, no focusing needed — and stuck them along the corridor leading to the accessible toilet and on the cubicle door itself.

    The free NaviLens app reads the code and delivers by voice the position of the bowl, the lock and the flush mechanism — the same gesture serves blind people, wheelchair users and any first-time visitor.

    § Gallery

    From corridor to cubicle.

    Three women from the Mejins team holding an A4 NaviLens code sign next to the sprinkler control room at the Gunma Welfare Centre
    Woman with a white cane pointing her phone at the NaviLens sign next to the accessible toilet door, with a yellow tactile strip on the floor
    Three Mayudama Net Festa attendees in front of the accessible toilet door with the NaviLens sign, one of them in an electric wheelchair
    NaviLens workshop demo: two people in front of a door with a NaviLens sign in the corridor of the Gunma Welfare Centre
    Table with NaviLens cards, Japanese curry boxes labelled with codes and a hand-written sign «ナビレンス パーソナル コード»
    Mayudama Net Festa stand with several attendees consulting NaviLens codes on a table: green vest «視覚障害がい者»
    A4 «Empowering visually impaired» sign with a NaviLens code and download QR, installed on the corridor wall
    Door of the barrier-free toilet at the Gunma Welfare Centre with the NaviLens sign attached and the blue wheelchair plate
    Group of Mayudama Net Festa attendees following the Mejins explanation in the corridor, next to a NaviLens sign
    Clipping from the 上毛新聞 (Jōmō Shimbun) daily of 12 Aug 2023 with headline «視覚障害 理解深めて — 模型展示やかるた体験», highlighting the mention of NaviLens

    § Timeline

    From Eye Lounge to Festa.

    1. 2023

      Mejins brings NaviLens to Japan

      The Japan Blind Life Design Association (視覚障害者ライフデザインhub, aka «Mejins / メジンス») adds NaviLens to its «Eye Lounge» (アイラウンジ) workshop programme. On 4 Jun 2023, the 16th edition — 97 attendees — is fully devoted to presenting the app: «視覚障害者に便利な最先端技術！…ナビレンスを知って、使ってみよう！».

    2. 11 Aug 2023

      6th Mayudama Net Festa · NaviLens workshop

      At the 6th edition of the festival (Gunma Prefectural Welfare Centre, Maebashi), Mejins installs NaviLens codes in the corridor and inside the barrier-free toilet. 69 people — cane users, wheelchair users and companions — walk the route and hear on their phones where the bowl, the lock and the flush are.

    3. 12 Aug 2023

      Coverage in 上毛新聞 (Jōmō Shimbun)

      The Gunma regional daily publishes «視覚障害 理解深めて — 模型展示やかるた体験», with a photo of the workshop. It explicitly cites the NaviLens app and describes the scene: «札を触り、どの札かをスマートフォンで読み取ると個室内の便座、鍵の位置、水の流し方などが音声で案内された».

    4. 2024 → 2025

      Mayudama Net Festa 2024 and 2025

      The festival runs again in 2024 (7th edition) and on 6 Sep 2025 with the full Mayudama Net network. Mejins keeps the NaviLens workshop track running inside its Eye Lounge programme.

    § What they said

    Voices from the Mayudama Net Festa.

    • “ナビレンスコードを使い、バリアフリートイレまでの案内と、トイレ個室内（便座、鍵の位置、水の流し方など）を音声で案内した。視覚障害のある参加者にとって、初めての場所のトイレを単独で使えるという経験は大きな自信になった。”
    • “視覚障害 理解深めて — まゆだまネットフェスタが11日、前橋市の県社会福祉総合センターで開かれた。札を触り、どの札かをスマートフォンで読み取ると個室内の便座、鍵の位置、水の流し方などが音声で案内された。”
    • “視覚障害者支援団体で組織する「まゆだまネット」で、参加型イベントを開催します。入場無料。世界の建築物の模型展示や盲導犬とのふれあい、打楽器奏者による演奏、ワークショップなど。”

    § Results

    A tool anyone can take home.

    69 / 97

    Participants at the Festa workshop (69) and the prior Eye Lounge (97)

    Single-use toilet

    First documented case in Japan of NaviLens guiding bowl, lock and flush

    ja + multi

    Multilingual voice readout from laminated A4 prints, no building works

    § And your centre?

    Every classroom and clinic can be guided by voice.

    Tell us about your centre, your journeys and your users. We’ll show you how NaviLens would make wayfinding easier.

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