Asian Para Games trace roots to Japanese disability sports pioneer

NAGOYA – The Asian Para Games, which opened in Aichi Prefecture on Oct 18, trace their roots to the Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled founded by the late Japanese doctor Yutaka Nakamura to promote disability sports across Asia.

Known as the father of Japan’s Paralympic movement, Nakamura launched the first FESPIC Games in Oita Prefecture in 1975. The event became the Asian Para Games in 2010 and now draws 45 countries and regions.

Nakamura studied in Britain under Ludwig Guttmann, known as the father of the Paralympic movement, and learnt to use sports in rehabilitation for the disabled. He helped bring the 1964 Tokyo Paralympics to fruition after returning to Japan, but he had a bigger goal.

“The Paralympics have always been centred on Western countries with little participation from South-east Asia,” Nakamura believed according to his biography. “The fact that a country is poor is no reason to put the needs of people with disabilities on the back burner.”

He envisioned an event that could be held “under palm trees, even while sipping coconut juice.” Wanting to keep the games simple enough to be held even in poor countries, he chose his hometown of Oita – a regional city – rather than Tokyo as the venue for the first games in 1975, which drew 18 countries and regions.

“Developing countries don’t have money, and people with disabilities there are in a completely different situation from those in Europe. I think he wanted to create an event for those people, without spending money, driven by his initiative,” Nakamura’s second son Eijiro, 64, recalled.

The FESPIC Games continued until 2006, before it was rebranded as the Asian Para Games in 2010. Hosting the games brought about changes in the environment surrounding people with disabilities in countries including Thailand, which staged the seventh games in 1999.

According to Asian Paralympic Committee executive board member Naoe Yasuoka, strong prejudice existed in the country that disabilities were a punishment for sins in a previous life, influenced by the Theravada Buddhist concept of reincarnation. But hosting the games became a turning point, shifting public attitudes.

Barrier-free access at railways and subway systems advanced and the 59-year-old said “para athletes became role models” in Thailand, which is now one of Asia’s leading countries for para sports.

Japan has continued to support disability sports development in Asian countries. Since 2019, wheelchair rugby officials and players have travelled to four countries, including India, to provide coaching.

Takayuki Norimatsu, a 39-year-old former Japan international, founded a club team in Japan last year to receive Asian players. “We hope they will give back the skills and experience developed in Japan to their home countries,” he said.

Tatsuo Yamashita, the 67-year-old chairman of the Taiyo No Ie – a social welfare corporation founded by Nakamura in Beppu, Oita Prefecture – hopes the spirit of the games will live long beyond its return to Japan under a new name.

“I think Yutaka Nakamura’s presence will fade with time, but I still do not want people to forget him,” he said. KYODO NEWS