Man in a Wheelchair Travels Around Japan By Heartwarming Strangers

So far, over 200 people have signed up since April to help Terada along, driven by the slogan: “People who push my wheelchair are the (project) leaders.” Each project leader takes a commemorative photo with a sign indicating their assigned number, and they join the other project leaders on Helpush’s Instagram and Twitter.

Terada has cerebral palsy, which restricts his mobility, making his wheelchair a daily necessity. But it hadn’t always been that way; as a teenager, he had dreamed of becoming a baseball player. Unfortunately, his condition, coupled with extensive rehabilitation, would prevent him from achieving his goals as he was in too much pain to play. During his sophomore year in university, he became very depressed and decided to make a change in his life. From that point on, he vowed to start using his wheelchair, something he had rejected previously, and found that his whole life improved dramatically. He discovered that his wheelchair expanded his scope of life, opening opportunities to make new friends.

 “It changed my life. I realized that once a stranger becomes a friend, it’s easier to ask that person to help me a bit,” Terada said. He found that people were willing to help him out by pushing him from one place to another or assisting him in train stations, and this gave him the idea to take it on the road. Thus, Helpush was born, where Terada aims to visit all 47 prefectures by 2019 by the good graces of kind strangers.

During his travels, he asks people of any race, gender, and age to help him push his wheelchair. He also supplements push-power with public transport and hitchhiking, but the goal is the same: extending the community of naturally helpful, considerate citizens.

So far, Terada has traveled to eight different prefectures, including Nagano, Gifu, Fukui, and Shizuoka, before arriving in Aichi, where he stopped in Nagoya, his hometown.

Occasionally, he will find himself in more remote areas where no one is around to help him; thanks to the modern marvels of social media, however, help is but a tweet away. Should he ever find himself stranded, all he has to do is tweet an SOS and people will come to his aid. To thank them, Terada does his best to make them feel good about their selfless act of service.

Terada’s next trip will be to Tohoku in August.