From Patients to Pros: The Paralympics and the Evolving Image of Disabled Athletes in Japan, 1964-2020

• In Event: Moving Forward?: A Critical Examination of the Olympic and Paralympic Movements in Japan

Abstract

When organizers first raised the possibility of hosting the 1964 Paralympics in Tokyo, athletes from Japan had never participated in the Games before, and many medical professionals dismissed sports for the disabled as a preposterous idea. Today, the situation could not be more different. As Tokyo prepares to host its second Paralympic Games, the city has actively integrated and featured disabled athletes throughout the bid and promotion process. This paper examines how this dramatic shift came about, focusing on representations of disabled athletes in official and popular materials over the past fifty years. As Japan’s first encounter with the Paralympic Movement, the 1964 Games challenged longstanding social perceptions of the disabled as weak and dependent, but the Movements’ repeated emphasis on the rehabilitative role of sports also reinforced less-progressive notions that disability was an individual, medical issue. Unlike Tokyo’s Games, Japan’s second Paralympic experience in Nagano benefitted from decades of engagement with the Paralympics, increased government support, and widespread media coverage. As important as these changes were, the expanded official and popular attention proved mixed, as older rehabilitation-focused approaches increasingly clashed with athletes’ desires to be viewed as elite competitors. The nascent professionalization seen in Nagano has been even more apparent in promotional materials for Tokyo’s upcoming Games. Although these developments suggest a new willingness to embrace the disabled athlete as a symbol of national pride, they also raise significant questions about the ultimate purpose and benefit of Paralympic sports for individuals with disabilities in Japan and beyond.

Author

• Dennis Frost, Kalamazoo College