>  I would like to enquire about disability train fares in Japan 
>  as my older brother is in a wheelchair and will be visiting Japan soon. 
>  Is there any discounts available for trains to the disabled and if there are what are the prices ? 

No any discount price officially if you do not have Japanese disability ID. 
Trains, normally half price, both disabled and attendant.

>  You said the trains are accessible in Japan ? 

Mostly, yes. Trains are the most important and useful transportation in Japan. Very Useful.
http://www.japan-accessible.com/transport.htm

>  How are the sidewalk ?   Do the sidewalks have ramps ? 

Almost 100% ramps., but 1cm step between sidewalk and road. Blind people want the gap. 
They find sidewalk end by white cane. Also tactile tile (braille block) on roads are often discussed.

>  Are accessible restrooms easy to find ? 

Easy. First, many public restrooms in Japan. May be the most in the world.
Today at least one accessible toilet in public restrooms.


>  Are accessible restrooms in restaurants ? 

Not all. But some big restaurants have large restrooms. Very few at first food restaurants.
Shopping mall and restaurant floor of big buildings have accessible restrooms.
It is rare to find accessible restrooms in a small shops and restaurants, cafe, bar in Japan. 

>  We are from Vienna/Austria.
>  My friend (wheelchair) and I (not wheelchair) want to visit Japan and travel around.
> 
>  I saw a lot of hotels with wheelchair accessible rooms and bathrooms on your homepage now. 
>  But my question is: how does wheelchair-people can use a bath tube without a seat where they can sit ?
>  We have such sitting-board at home, that we just put on the bathtub so my friend can sit on it
>  Can we lend such sitting-board in the hotel ? or do we have to bring it from Austria?

First, Japanese bathroom is different from Europe one. Also accessible bathroom is different. 
Bathtub is also different. More deep. We Japanese like to sink our body deeply inside. 
Shower chair is standard in Europe. 

We have a space washing our body and hair in bathroom.
We never wash our body and hair in bathtub at house, but some economy hotels have no space of washing.

Bathtub is standard facility except economy hotels. Our bath tab is large and bid sitting space available.
Sometime shower chair available, but no sitting-board in bathtub in Japanese accessible rooms.
We recommend that you bring your own sitting board or shower chair if it is small.

>  I will be in Japan for 7 days in December: Tokyo and Kyoto.
>  I cannot get in and out of a bathtub and I am having a problem locating hotels 
>  in the 2 cities without a bathtub and with a roll-in shower instead. Can you help? 

Normally bathroom of Japanese economy hotel is very small and with a step.
There are no shower wheelchair, but some have a shower chair.
Public welfare facilities have a special room with shower wheelchair, but located far from city center. 
Bringing your own shower chair is the best way and safety. 

"Toyoko Inn" accessible room has a large bathroom.
They put a shower chair in shower area and also have another bathtub.
This is one of the choice. Price is cheep.   http://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/

Tokyo. Keio plaza is very famous for accessible room.
They put on shower chair or bathtub board easily.
Just book the cheep price and request to change wheelchair accessible room.
Free upgrade. Secret way.   http://www.keioplaza.com

Kyoto. Bathroom space is up to the price of hotel. Toyoko Inn is large and cheep.
Some luxurious hotel have accessible rooms but normally no shower chair.
You can enter the bathroom by own wheelchair.
Check our list.   http://www.japan-accessible.com/sleeping/kyoto.htm

December is winter. Keep warm and enjoy Japan !

>  I'm about to visit Tokyo. 
>  I'm a wheelchair user, very strong and independent, with an ultra lightweight manual wheelchair.
>  It's proving difficult to find an accessible hotel room where I want to stay, 
>  namely downtown, handy to the Yamanote line.
>  So far I'm only able to find a room that will cost me $200 per night.

Check this page.  http://www.japan-accessible.com/sleeping/tokyo.htm
Recently at least one accessible room each hotel, but booking it by phone.
For foreigners, it is not kind system. We can call it instead of foreign wheelchair tourist.
Some hotels you can book accessible rooms by web or fax directly. 200 US$ is enough to find.

>  We are a family traveling from San Francisco, California with an elderly mother who now needs a wheelchair. 
>  Can you help us with information about wheelchair rentals or loans? 
>  (We have been unsuccessful so far in our inquiries at train stations and elsewhere.)

No rental and loans for travelers.
Buy it. About 200 US$ so far. But you must find the shop.

Well, many rental wheelchair each place, shopping mall, museum, big station, airport, park. hotel.. 
All free of charge to use, but you cannot take it home and hotel. Allowed to use it inside the facility only.

>  How do you gather accessible information ? 
>  Do the hotels or attractions contact you directly ?  Or go survey by yourself ? 

Some JATC info are from our personal experience, but almost of them are from open resource. 
In Japanese, there are many accessible info from official, business, local survey, and personal experience. 
We gather and transmit them in English.

10 years ago, no official accessible info. Hotels and facility do not want to open their accessible situation. 
Today half of them open it because they can say yes. 
For example, Japan Railway opens station maps, but not all.
We have a low and regulation of accessibility, but only making, no responsibility of information disclosure.

 
>  How often do you review the information on the website? 

Difficult to say. We hope to update them year by year. When it changes, we change it as soon as possible.
But we do not catch them all.  Especially non-accessible change good accessible.

 
>  For revenue model, we have seen that you have membership (regular and supporting membership). 
>  Could you explain the two types of membership? How do they different ?

That is a low of Japan NPO system.
Regular member has a right to vote NPO general meeting. Supporting members are just financial support.
Now we try to make over sea donation system.

Free to download " Pointing Conversation for Accessible Tour in Japanese ".