Photo/Illutration Dr. Yutaka Nakamura (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games start today.

Last week, I interviewed Dr. Taro Nakamura, 60, the chief medical manager of the Paralympic badminton competition. That was after I learned that his father, the late Dr. Yutaka Nakamura, was known as the "father of the Japanese Paralympics."

Born in Oita Prefecture in 1927, the elder Nakamura was an orthopedic surgeon at Kokuritsu Beppu Byoin (present-day National Hospital Organization Beppu Medical Center) when he visited a hospital in Britain in 1960.

There, he was stunned to learn that patients with debilitating conditions, who would have been deemed beyond recovery in Japan, were being discharged after about six months and able to participate actively in society.

The secret lay in sports.

Patients in wheelchairs actively played ping-pong and basketball, which proved extremely effective as a rehab program.

“Don’t worry about what you have lost, just make the most of what you have left” was the precept of Dr. Ludwig Guttmann (1899-1980), the German-British neurologist under whom Nakamura trained.

Resolved to follow in his mentor's footsteps, Nakamura immediately got on with his mission upon returning to Japan.

He organized Japan's first full-scale athletic competition for people with impairments and served as the head of the Japanese team at the 1964 Tokyo Paralympic Games.

The following year, he opened Japan Sun Industries, a facility where people with disabilities could learn professional skills to become self-reliant, in Beppu.

One after another, residents found hope and rejoined society.

"They need opportunities, not protection," Nakamura was wont to assert.

In 1984, however, he died at the young age of 57.

After reading his autobiography titled "Taiyo no Nakamatachi yo" (To my companions in the sun), I retraced his life.

For forging ahead despite being accused of "exploiting people with disabilities," Nakamura was affectionately nicknamed "Nakamura Taifu" (Typhoon Nakamura) by his colleagues.

I understand that for Nakamura to shatter society's old perceptions of people with disabilities, he had to take extraordinary steps that were way ahead of his time.

I would love Beppu to become the main venue of Paralympic events someday. And I fantasized about a capacity crowd at the Opening Ceremony, with Nakamura and Guttmann beaming from the giant screen, their arms around each other's shoulders.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 24

* * *

Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

Related News