When the snow hides the Braille blocks, I can't walk straight. I don't know which direction I'm facing, and it's like I'm lost.

I doubt that visually impaired people can "walk safely" along snow and ice covered streets regardless of the efforts made.

The tech exists to create safe guides for visually impaired people. They could have a device that makes use of Google navigation combined with the technology used for self driving cars to prevent collisions. Not a lot of money in it, but I would hope some company could put it together.

If the streets and roads are anything like out city has, even if you could sense the braille blocks, it is so icy and slippery you are taking your life in your hands walking around. It amazes me how cities do little or nothing about snow removal and care for ice and snow!

Man, when it snows here in areas that it usually does not (or where it doesn't stick, anyway), the whole place panics and shuts down. Look how many were hospitalized in Tokyo the other day when it snowed. It's not just for the impaired that we need to do more, it's for everyone. Nothing sucks much more than all the salt and sand you get in nations that spread them on roads and sidewalks in winter, but there's a reason for it. And once the snow melts... what a mess. But, that's one basic step that could help.

Honest to gods, if it snows anywhere other than Hokkaido, I'd stay home unless I had to go to work because it's just one slippery, hazardous mess out there. I'm not at all surprised that so many people were hospitalized and traffic accidents spiked - Tokyo does not have the infrastructure or resources to handle even that little bit of snow. The entire city turns into one nightmarish ice skating rink and it doesn't help that the sidewalks aren't salted down. I can't imagine being visually impaired and trying to brave those conditions. The mere thought frightens the pants off me.

Honest to gods, if it snows anywhere other than Hokkaido, I'd stay home unless I had to go to work because it's just one slippery, hazardous mess out there.

Then I suggest that you avoid visiting Niigata in winter.