Warning this became an essay.

I usually fly several times a year and I've done three trips to Japan, two of which were solo. Both went fine. The usual thing is planning everything, and having a backup plan, then having a backup for the backup plan.

Have numbers in your phone for every service you will use that you know are always answered, and by someone who speaks decent English. Ideally have two numbers per place you go, in case one of them isn't answered. Test that out before you travel by calling from home. Take a USB power bank for your phone to cover super long traveling days.

One of my Japan trips was via Dubai and one via Singapore. This matters when you are booking your trip. The usual issues of being forgotten about apply but in Japan things are very organised. Singapore is pretty organised too. Dubai is chaos. Those are just examples but this may affect where you choose to go and how you choose to get there.

Investigate all the websites of the airports you will hit before even booking. They have online departure information and accessibility is often bad. It is a lot easier to check what's going on with your flight on your phone, rather than maybe missing announcements.

Check in online the day before. It's one less thing to do. Get there hours and hours early, even earlier than it says to.

Dress like a presentable business traveller. I do jacket and neat new jeans and loafers and tidy hair and makeup, modify for gender appropriateness. You will normally meet three people at an airport and you need to be crystal clear on who will meet you where and when. Ask them to describe exactly what's going to happen. Don't tell them what you're expecting, have them explain it, then you know they actually know it and they're not just expecting it to randomly happen, because it won't.

Usually the first one will meet you at the door if you get a cab or get dropped off, or off the train or whatever. They need to know when you are going to arrive, what you look like and where you need to go, so know your flight number, airline and which terminal you need. If you're going to be late or early, call and tell them. You will go to bag drop (because you checked in online). Sometimes that person will go through security with you, sometimes a new person does that.

At that point you can ask the nice airport person to drop you off at a bar or snack place or whatever and soak up a little departure lounge atmosphere. Sometimes, if you organise to meet an airline person at this point, they'll actually take you to the business class lounge where there are more staff, which is totally awesome and should be pursued at all costs. There is loads of really nice free food and easy chairs, some of them even have showers.

You should have arranged for someone to meet you when your flight is called, and you go with them to the gate. Make sure they know where you got dropped off in the departure lounge well in advance. This is the top most likely time and place to be forgotten so tell them to arrive a good twenty minutes before you expect to need to move to the gate. When they don't turn up, call them, and they will then turn up sounding like they ran all the way. Often at this point in big airports you get a ride on the electric cart. Do NOT let them put you in a wheelchair. At the gate you will meet someone from the airline. If you've dressed smartly enough they'll often let you sit in the front of the plane where there's more room and the food is better and there's more staff and they know who you are.

The inflight entertainment system will be utterly utterly inaccessible so take your own fun. Make sure you know where the call button is that will summon help, it's super handy.

At the other end the airline people should introduce you to the help you booked from the airport who will take you to immigration. Very often they can't go through immigration and this is a common place where things go wrong, they dump you in a queue and you'll have to play it by ear. Remain calm.

If you are changing flights it's back to the departure lounge, rinse and repeat. You may or may not pick up your baggage between flights depending if you are transiting between two countries or just getting a little local flight inside a country, and that is a major thing to make sure you know or you can end up leaving your bags behind in some airport somewhere. Make sure your baggage is really easy to describe. I have red and blue webbing clipped around the handles of mine so it's incredibly easy and I have a picture of it on my phone that I can show people.

If you know anyone local then persuade them to come pick you up. Sometimes airbnb people are good about this (there is a whole other discussion to have about airbnb which is great) and if you are on business then often they will have you met and collected which is great. I don't do buses or trains in places I don't speak the language it's just impossible. I have ended up paying a small fortune for cabs to and from airports but if it's that or not doing it, I'll pay.

I won't talk about hotels and airbnb and stuff unless you really want me to as this is a complete essay, sorry!

I grew up in japan and can tell you that almost ALL of their sidewalks have braille bumps. Long ovular raised bumps let’s you know you’re on the sidewalk, when you start to feel little circular bumps, they let you know that an intersection or curb etc is coming up in a few feet.

There's a firm that specializes in international travel for the blind. $1

Hey Luke, I’m also 23 and live in Australia. I’ve been to Tokyo, though it was with my parents and not independently. I don’t know what it’s like to travel independently, but Tokyo is really friendly and I’m sure you can ask for help if you need it, especially with the train lines. I, unfortunately, can’t remember how accessible the city actually is, but I do remember that there were audible crossings.

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Well I'm visually impaired to the point of legal blindness, and I've just.. gone and figured it out. I've been to a dozen or so countries so far, but never alone, though. Longest I've spent abroad was seven weeks. Exhausting as hell, at least for my ADD-ass.

If you were wondering whether there's assistance available in different countries, I really don't know. Airports are in my experience universally very accommodating when I walk with my cane.

I'm legally blind. I travel with a cane. I have been to Europe, North America, South America, Central America and Southeast Asia. I have not ever been to Japan.
I find that in almost every country that I have ever been to I get treated better/nicer/kinder than sighted people. To the point where it can be frustrating because I can carry my own bag, heck I hiked 4,000km alone.
I have also lived in a couple of countries. If you have questions drop me a message or respond here.
The wealthier the country the more common it is for people with disabilities to do things independently. When you hit Cambodia or Bolivia they are amazed that a person with a disability does anything.

I was actually going to post a similar question, maybe I should in a separate post, but I was wondering about reactions to my vision because, you know, I look really close at stuff and touch things a lot. I know people here get a little uneasy, but I think they just watch me and follow me. I don't know how they will react in Japan in a store if I'm touching stuff and looking closely at things.