Guided tour

For visitors who wish to be navigated around the space, please click on the video below for the Japan gallery guided tour.

For screen reader users to follow is the wall panel text and audio descriptions for the 3D models or you can download the text as a Microsoft Word document.

Japan and the Paralympics

The Paralympic Games is a global movement, that evolved through the use of sport as a means of rehabilitation, growing into one of the world’s largest and most inspiring sporting events. The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics involved 162 countries and over 4000 athletes. 

Japan’s involvement in the Paralympic Movement

Japan is unique among all nations involved in the Paralympics. It is the only country to have hosted three Paralympic Games. It has hosted two Summer Games in 1964 and 2020 and one Winter Games in 1998. The Tokyo 1964 Games were the second Paralympic Games ever held. So, Japan was involved very early in the Paralympic Movement. It was the first major disability sporting event held outside Europe.

Three people played a key role in the Games coming to Japan in 1964. Dr Yutaka Nakamura, an orthopaedic surgeon who visited Stoke Mandeville and studied Dr Guttmann’s work. Hanako Watanabe, an academic in labour and welfare policy who visited the 1960 Games in Rome, as wife of the head of the Kyodo News Agency. Finally, Yoshisuke Kasai, former Ministry of Health official who chaired the organising committee for 1964. Later, he headed up the Japan Sports Association for the Disabled (JPSA).  
 

Dr Yutaka Nakamura, Japanese Paralympic Pioneer

Dr Yutaka Nakamura was the pioneer behind Japan’s early involvement in the Paralympics. He was an orthopaedic surgeon at the national hospital in Beppu, a city in Oita Prefecture. Dr Nakamura was a bit out of place on the Preparatory Committee. The other members represented national welfare or disability groups. He faced strong opposition from his Beppu colleagues, some openly made fun of his ideas. His drive came from Professor Sir Ludwig Guttmann, the father of the Paralympic Movement who he visited at Stoke Mandeville to learn about the new treatment of people with spinal injuries. 

Nakamura was ahead of his time as he would have preferred a Games that included athletes with other disabilities, but this did not happen until 1976. Nakamura also set up Sun Industries to support people with disabilities seeking work - an organisation that is still going strong today. In addition, he established the Far East and South Pacific (FESPIC) Games for the Disabled in 1975. 

Tokyo 1964 Games, the second Paralympic Games

At 10am on November 8th in 1964, 5000 spectators, including Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko, gathered at the Oda Field in the Olympic Village to witness the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Paralympic Games. 500 doves were released into the sky. The Games lasted for 5 days, and the presence of the Crown Prince and Princess helped attract the media and support for ongoing development after the Games.
 

Geisha Doll, 1964

The geisha doll has white makeup with red lipstick and a flower in its hair while wearing a red kimono. Japanese culture was reflected in the prizes that were given. This doll was given to the British Athlete Caz Walton in 1964 for winning a wheelchair race. Japan was the first country to host a Women’s wheelchair race, called The Dash, and the first in 1981 to host the international wheelchair marathon in Ōita to commemorate the United Nations International Year of Disabled Persons. Object from the collection of Caz Walton OBE. Written by Simon Stiel.

Reflection by Simon Stiel

As well as being a nice representation of traditional Japanese clothing and makeup, it is significant as a beautiful gift for a Paralympic athlete at a time when Paralympic gifts and merchandise did not exist. 

Materials: Ceramic, fabric and wood. 
Dimensions: Height 56cm. Width 21 cm.  
Weight: 1.075kg 
 

Paralympic Participation Medal, 1964

This beautiful participation medal featuring the dove was given to all participants in the Games and is possibly the first participation medal of the Paralympic Games. The white dove is on a red background showing interlocked wheelchair wheels coloured gold in the body of the dove. The words around it in English state: The Tokyo Games for the Physically Handicapped. Written by Simon Stiel.

Reflection by Adam Navarro 

The reason I like this medal is its lovely design and it ensured that those athletes who finished below third place did not come home empty-handed and had something to emphasise the achievement of participation.

Reflection by Ben Laferlla

This medal was the first 3D digital model made using the Macro lens. I have enjoyed completing the model as the lens allows us to encapsulate the smallest minute intricate details and textures that would not be possible without such a lens.

Materials: Metal, enamel. 
Dimensions: Diameter 3.8 cm. 
Weight: 20g. 

 
Two Games in Tokyo 1964

Dr Nakamura and his colleagues were ground-breaking as they held two sporting events in 1964. The first was the Tokyo Paralympic Games and the second, held the day after the Paralympics concluded, was the National Sports Meet. This Meet was a two-day event with 480 participants who had a wide range of disabilities, not just spinal injuries. The 480 athletes competing included competitors from Europe taking part in over 34 sports. It reflected the early desire for a multi-disability event that Japan and Dr Nakamura had preferred, and it would be over 12 years before the Paralympic Games embraced this same approach and changed to be a multi-disability event. 

Paralympic Profile: Fujio Watanabe

Fujio Watanabe, a table tennis player, became the first Japanese athlete to win a gold medal at a Paralympic Games. At the Tokyo 1964 Games, 16 athletes competed for Japan winning a total of ten medals.

Watanabe took up table tennis as part of his rehabilitation at the Fukushima Workers Compensation Hospital. He made his debut at the Tokyo 1964 Paralympic Games and won a gold medal in table tennis doubles with teammate Yasunori Igari. It was Watanabe’s only Paralympic Games as he worked full-time as a hospital clerk in Yokohama. After he retired during his fifties, he worked with disability organisations throughout Japan including demonstrations of bowls and arm wrestling.
  

Nagano 1998 Winter Paralympic Games

Nagano in Japan was awarded the 1998 Winter Paralympic Games at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham in 1991. It beat bids from the United States, Sweden, Spain and Italy making them the first Winter Paralympics to be held outside Europe. 

The Nagano Paralympic Organising Committee (NAPOC) set up an official webpage to promote the Games and held a visual and performing arts festival called Art Paralympics. National broadcaster NHK provided full-scale broadcasting and live coverage. The Games had 562 Paralympians from 31 different countries compete and 151,000 spectators attended the events.  

Paralympic Profile: Kuniko Obinata

Kuniko Obinata achieved the first gold medal for Japan in a Winter Paralympics. The team went on to achieve 41 medals.

Kuniko Obinata made her debut at the Lillehammer 1994 Paralympic Games in alpine skiing. She achieved Japan’s first gold medal at the Nagano 1998 Winter Paralympics and during her career she achieved ten medals: five bronze, three silver and two gold. 

She retired from competition in 2010 and became a consultant to Dentsu PR for sports and social business issues. Obinata is also chair of the Paralympians Association of Japan, a permanent member of the board of directors for the Japan Para-Ski Federation and a Governing Board member of the Japanese Para-Sports Association (JPSA)
 

Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games

It was announced in March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic that the Tokyo Paralympic Games would be postponed to 2021 and that overseas spectators would be barred from events in order to prevent infections. This meant Paralympians competed in empty stadiums and they had to remain in COVID ‘bubbles’. Despite this, television coverage broke audience viewing records and it was praised for its accessibility. The Games saw the launch of the International Paralympic Committee’s #Wethe15 campaign, a global human rights movement to end discrimination towards people with disabilities.

Paralympic Profile: Shingo Kunieda

Shingo Kunieda started playing wheelchair tennis at 11 years old. He made his first appearance at the Athens 2004 Paralympics achieving a gold medal in doubles.

Shingo has gone on to achieve more gold medals, at the Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Tokyo 2020 Games in singles. He won the wheelchair singles title at Wimbledon in 2022. He also holds the record for winning the most Grand Slam and Golden Slam titles in men's wheelchair singles.
 
In 2023, he received the prestigious Japanese People's Honour Award, becoming the first Paralympian to receive it. The award is given in honour of: individuals respected by a broad spectrum of the people, and whose distinguished achievements have brought the light of hope to society.

Japanese Torch Bearer outfit, 2020

This v-neck outfit consisting of a sports top and shorts which are coloured yellow and white also has the Agitos symbol displayed in the centre. This was worn by torch relay participants at the heritage flame ceremony at Stoke Mandeville and in Japan itself. Written by Simon Stiel.

Reflection by Adam Navarro

The torch bearer outfit for the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo was very well designed representing the flames congregating from all over Japan, with the traditional ichimatsu checkered pattern, a symbol of good fortune in Japan. In my view, I think of the yellow as representing the beginning of the day since Japan is on the east part of the Earth’s map and it is where the sun rises first.  

Materials: Fabric synthetic.  
Dimensions: Top - height 71cm and width 49cm. Shorts - height 53cm and width 34.5cm. 
Weight: 0.220kg
 

Thank you

• Mitsubishi Corporation, London Branch, for their hands on approach to this project. Special thanks to Rie Iwama for her dedicated and detailed work on the Japanese translations and audio recordings.
• Prof Nobuko Tanaka-Hibino PhD at Toin University of Yokohama for her advice on Japanese Paralympians. 
• Dennis J Frost whose book ‘More than Medals: A History of the Paralympics and Disability Sport in Postwar Japan’ inspired us.
• Dr Ian Brittain at Coventry University for sharing his collections and knowledge. Dr Verity Postlethwaite at Loughborough University for her knowledge and contacts.
• Volunteers David Reynolds and Claire Rider for the English language audio recordings.

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