TOKYO: Many Japanese athletes who took part in the Tokyo Paralympics, which came to a close on Sunday, feel that the Games brought about significant improvements to inclusivity in Japan.

Haruka Hirose, 42, who competed in the men’s 90-kilogram judo event at the Tokyo Games, said that he and his 30-year-old wife, Junko, who participated in the women’s 57 kg judo category, were denied housing loans and life insurance coverage after they married in 2015.

“I felt that it was difficult to live as a disabled couple,” Hirose said.

However, he noted, the situation changed drastically as the Tokyo Paralympics approached.

“Disabled couples around us were able to get loans, and there are more insurance plans available for us,” Hirose said. “Things have changed so much in the past several years that I feel it is thanks to the Tokyo Games.”

“I have been fully blind for 40 years, but I think the world is becoming a better place to live every decade,” Yoshikazu Matsumoto, 59, who competed in the men’s 100 kg judo competition, said.

Matsumoto said that he used to feel others being nervous whenever he entered stores alone in the past, but noted that “people now treat me normally even at convenience stores.”

Tomoya Ito, 58, a major figure in the Paralympics athletics world, teamed up with a robotics development company led by Anri Sugihara, 39, and others to develop a wheelchair for competitive use. During the process, they developed a system for measuring sitting posture to personalize wheelchairs, and the technology is being tested by people with cervical spinal cord injuries at the National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities.

“It is a great thing to be able to bring something positive to the world, much like how technology from Formula One races are used in general society,” said Ito, a wheelchair user. “I am proud to be at the start of” technology being used for diversity.

Para-canoe athlete Monika Seryu, 23, who uses a wheelchair, said that there are many people with disabilities who are not coming out into society, noting that she was one such person.

Seryu said that the Tokyo Games became her “hope to live,” and wished that the performances of athletes at the Paralympics inspire people with disabilities to step out into society.

JIJI Press