The blind leading the sighted

Michinori Kinoshita never expected to find a job which actually required him to be blind. As a guide for Dialogue in the Dark (DID) in Tokyo, he leads activities by which sighted people briefly experience what it’s like to be blind. And like other DID guides, he is blind himself.

Kinoshita looks after eight people at a time in the complete dark, leading them through a 90-minute session. Participants experience different simulated situations, such as boarding a train or walking on grass, using hearing, touch, smell and taste, rather than sight.

Kinoshita started working as a guide 15 years ago. During his first session, participants experienced a simulated lake, and instead of looking they had to use their sense of touch.Kinoshita was stunned by participants’ excitement after simply touching water. That kind of experience was his normal world. But for the participants, it was truly eye-opening.

Before working with DID he had felt insecure about his visual disability.

“I’d half given up,” he says. “But I was taught to realize there are things I can do precisely because I am blind. It gave me a lot of confidence.”

The concept of Dialogue in the Dark was founded in 1988 in Germany by philosopher Andreas Heinecke. It has since spread to 41 countries and over 8 million sighted people have taken part. There are two facilities in Tokyo run by the Japan Dialogue Society: The Dialogue Diversity Museum in Takeshiba and another space inside the Mitsui Garden Hotel Jingugaien Tokyo Premier. Both are available for use by members of the public and for corporate team-building events.

Its latest initiative is a special “afternoon nap” program. From April 9 to June 30 at the Mitsui Garden Hotel Jingugaien Tokyo Premier, participants can briefly sleep in complete darkness and relieve anxiety caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Translation and Editing by Tony McNicol

Top page photo by twenty20photos/Envato

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