September 20, 2025 at 11:22 JST
Junichi Kawai in February 2024 when he was chairman of the Japan Paralympic Committee (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Five-time Paralympic swimming gold medalist Junichi Kawai was named the new head of Japan’s Sports Agency, effective Oct. 1.
The appointment makes the sightless Olympian the first Paralympian to assume the post, according to the Sept. 19 Cabinet announcement.
The 50-year-old Kawai will replace Koji Murofushi, also 50, who is retiring at the end of September after a five-year term.
Kawai earned a total of 21 medals in Paralympic swimming events for visually impaired athletes, including five golds.
After retiring from competition, he served as chairman of the Japan Paralympic Committee and led Japan’s delegations as chef de mission at the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics and 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics.
His appointment breaks a trend of Olympic gold medalists leading the agency since its inception. Daichi Suzuki, 58, was the first commissioner, followed by Murofushi, both Olympic champions.
A peek through the music industry’s curtain at the producers who harnessed social media to help their idols go global.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
