Master of Arts

An Abled Nation: Disabled Athletes in Japan and How Their Bodies are Governed Item Type text; Electronic Thesis Authors Supplitt, Timothy Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 24/09/2021 12:17:11 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/624127 AN ABLED NATION: DISABLED ATHLETES IN JAPAN AND HOW THEIR BODIES ARE GOVERNED by Timothy Supplitt ____________________________ Copyright © Timothy Supplitt 2017 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF EAST ASIAN STUDIES In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2017 1 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR The thesis titled AN ABLED NATION: DISABLED ATHLETES IN JAPAN AND HOW THEIR BODIES ARE GOVERNED prepared by Timothy Supplitt has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for a master’s degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: Timothy Supplitt APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: Defense date Nathaniel Smith 4/28/2017 Assistant Professor East Asian Studies 2 List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………………..5 Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………6 Preface A Wheelchair Basketball Tournament………………………………………………………….…8 Modern disability athletics in Japan………………………………………………………………9 Introduction Focus……………………………………………………………………………………………..13 Factors of disability governance in Japan………………………………………………………..17 Modernity………………………………………………………………………………………...17 Stages…………………………………………………………………………………………….19 Sport……………………………………………………………………………………………...20 Elite Approach…………………………………………………………………………………...22 Disability Understanding………………………………………………………………………...22 Literature Review………………………………………………………………………………..23 Structure of the thesis……………………………………………………………………………26 Chapter 1: Background Biopolitics and Japanese minorities……………………………………………………………...28 History of disability in Japan…………………………………………………………………….31 History of the Paralympics…………………………………………………………………….…34 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….36 Chapter 2: Modernity Japanese modernity………………………………………………………………………………39 Disability: modern Japanese charity……………………………………………………………..42 Germany and Japan, a medical exchange………………………………………………………..49 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….54 Chapter 3: Postwar ‘Social’ Disability and Organized Advocacy Soldiers that do athletics in Japan………………………………………………………………..57 A story on a train ride: Society and disability……………………………………………………60 Japan’s circle of life, taking ideas and giving ideas……………………………………………...71 Language is power, power is the organized disabled identity…………………………………...76 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………….…86 Chapter 4: Sport and disability in Japan 3 The shooting ‘sports’ stars that Japan loves……………………………………………………..89 The shooting ‘sports’ stars that the Japanese disabled love……………………………………...95 Sports stars and ‘super crips’: the good, the bad and the ugly………………………………….101 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………...109 Chapter 5: The Elite Approach Japanese disability athletics: separate…………………………………………………………..111 Japanese disability athletics: but equal…………………………………………………………119 The government that is invested into disabled body……………………………….……….......123 The elite-approach…………………………………………………………………………..….129 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….…..133 Conclusion Seeing is believing, Japan’s path to disability sports understanding…………….…………..…135 The Paralympic logo……………………………………………………………….………..….143 Summary……………………………………………………………………………….…….…145 Epilogue A wheelchair basketball tournament……………………………………………………..……..149 Work cited………………………………………………………………………………………151 4 List of Figures Figure 1: Wheelchair Tennis Serve. Photo by the author…………………………………….…7 Figure 2: Priority seating poster. Photo by the author…………………………………………65 Figure 3: Wheelchair Basketball Hiroaki Kozai. Photo by Enomoto, Asami………………...106 Figure 4: Swimming Mei Ichinose. Photo by Shimizu, Takashi……………………………..115 Figure 5: Swimming. Photo by Fujita, Takao………………………………………………...116 Figure 6: Wheelchair Tennis Tournament. Photo by the author……………………………...138 Figure 7: Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Game Emblem. By Tokolo, Asao………………………..144 5 Abstract This thesis analyzes the ways in which the Japanese state uses the disabled body and disability athletics as a tool of governance and how that affects the incorporation of disabled people into Japanese society. Throughout Japan’s history the disability identity has been a subject of negotiation between social actors including the government, general public, those with disabilities, and powerful international collectives. After World War II, disabled former soldiers were celebrated for their national sacrifice while other disabled bodies were displaced. In later decades, disability athletics became a space where the symbol of the ideal disabled body has been promoted for public consumption. On the stage of athletics, various actors have shaped and influenced each other by advocating different visions of the disabled body in Japanese society. Disabled athletes negotiate depictions of disability as idealized (the ‘super crip’) or stigmatized (the ‘pitiable disabled person’), and these depictions in turn create public expectations for what the disabled body should be but at times glosses over the struggles of many disabled people. The purpose of this thesis is to consider how notions of the disabled body are used to negotiate nationalism, modern ideas of care and social responsibility, and expectations to become a body of inspiration for the disabled community and the general public. The core question is: What are the implications of the disabled body being used as a tool on the stage of disability athletics for governance in modern day Japan? The thesis will provide a basis for deeper understanding about the relevance of disability athletics as both a form of governance and a site of identity formation for the disabled. 6 Figure 8 Wheelchair Tennis Serve. Photo by the author 7 Preface A Wheelchair Basketball Tournament In the summer of 2016, in the Kansai area of Japan, a group of people in wheelchairs gather in front of a multi-purpose athletic center talking to each other. Passing through a set of automatic glass doors even more wheelchair athletes are huddled in small groups talking. An advertisement for Japan’s upcoming Tokyo 2020 games, and a poster displaying the Japanese 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympics and Paralympics medal count is posted in the lobby on a bulletin board. Several gym goers are in and out, utilizing different features of the multipurpose sports center, and making note of this uncommon gathering of people in wheelchairs. On a nearby table there are event programs, and within the program there is a map indicating that spectator seating is on the second floor. A line has amassed in front of a tiny elevator- it can only accommodate one wheelchair at a time. Across the lobby is the only other access to the second floor, the stairs. The seating on the second floor is colosseum style, lifting the audience above the two basketball courts. To the right, a large group of volunteers are waiting in an organized manner, though their numbers seem too large for an event like this. The friends and families of the wheelchair athlete irregularly take up the other seats. After a short wait, some volunteers on the right run out of the seating area and emerge a floor below; some are holding signs with team names on them. The teams gradually lineup and face two flags: the flag of Japan, and the flag of the National Japanese Wheelchair Federation, both of which hangs high above them. A major Japanese corporation branded itself onto the jersey of one of the teams, playing the role as a team sponsor. There is one all-female team, competing against the all-male opponents. After each team are lined up, the opening ceremonies commence. People in the stands pull out their portable cameras and begin filming. The player 8 representative, and the president of the tournament proceed to give speeches. Key points in the speeches indicate, for the community the upcoming 2016 Rio games are significant, and that the athletes at this event could well be Paralympians for the 2020 Tokyo games. Once the opening ceremonies conclude, the teams go their separate ways and start warm ups. Playing under the elated gaze of their families in the stands, before the flag of the sport they chose to represent, and under the flag of the nation they live in. All of which plays a part in who they are. The games have now begun. Modern disability athletics in Japan This scene touches on some of the major issues in disability athletics today in

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