Tokyo Weekender - April 2016

HIROTADA OTOTAKE | FEATURE | 15
A Life
Without
BarriersBy Alec Jordan
With a possible political run in mind and a personal
scandal in the press, what is next for Hirotada Ototake?
At first thought, tetra-amelia syndrome would
seem like a prison sentence. Those born with
the congenital condition have neither arms
nor legs, and many of them die at an early
age. Survivors who make it to adulthood often
suffer from a host of painful complications to go along
with their immobility. In previous generations, tetra-amelia
survivors might have led cloistered lives or joined traveling
circuses in order to get by, and while the prognosis for those
living with the syndrome might be better than before, it
would be hard to expect them to lead lives like the rest of us.
Someone forgot to tell this to Hirotada Ototake.
As the journalist, author, and educator explains, though, he
wouldn’t have listened even if someone had told him what
his limitations were supposed to be: “I have never been good
at doing the same thing that everyone else did.” Just shy of
his 40th birthday, Ototake has spent his life challenging expectations
of what the disabled can achieve, and at the time
of this writing, there are rumors that he is considering a run
for political office—as well as a brewing scandal that could
put an end to that run before it even begins.
Weekender met with Ototake at his office in Shinjuku
last month to talk about the lessons he’s learned in his many
careers, provoking controversy on social media to bring attention
to ignored minorities, and some of the ways that Japanese
politicians could reach out to a younger generation.
One of the first things that impresses you on meeting the
Tokyo native is a powerful sense of his poise and self-assurance.
Although his first book, “Gotai fumanzoku” (translated
in English as “No One’s Perfect”) recounts stories of how
Ototake overcame his physical limitations in order to run,
jump rope, swim, and play basketball on his junior high club
team, it also depicts a young man with a natural talent for
leadership. From his elementary student days to his time at
Waseda University, he was never interested in just being accepted:
he wanted to make a difference in any community
that he was a part of.
One of the wellsprings of this strength lay close at home.
“When I think about the love and support from my parents, I
know that is what made the difference for me,” Ototake, who
is a father of three, muses. “If I hadn’t had that, and had been
born in this same body, I know that I wouldn’t have the same
life that I do now.” It all began, Ototake writes in “No One’s
Perfect,” when his mother saw him for the first time. His father
knew about his son’s disability but had persuaded his
wife that the baby boy had severe jaundice and she couldn’t
see him until he recovered. It was only after a few weeks that
his mother was able to lay eyes on her son for the first time:
“The words that burst from my mother’s lips were ‘He’s adorable.’
I think the success of this first encounter was especially
meaningful. First impressions tend to stick. Sometimes you’re
still carrying them as baggage years later. And when it’s a
parent and child—that meeting is a profoundly important one.
The first emotion my mother felt toward me was not shock or
sadness, it was joy.”
(“No One’s Perfect,” Prologue)
“SUMO IS MY SOUL”
Ototake quickly got involved in the barrier-free movement
at Waseda, and following his pivotal role in a student campaign
to improve handicapped accessibility on campus, his
career as a public speaker began. It wasn’t long before he
was giving multiple speeches around the country while still
an undergraduate. He also wrote “No One’s Perfect,” which
went on to be a smash hit: it has sold nearly 5 million copies
to date and is the second best-selling book in Japan since
World War II.
Rather than staying on the speaking circuit after
university, he followed a lifelong love of athletics and
moved into a career in sports journalism. True to form,
it wasn’t long before he had established a name for himself
as a writer who excelled at getting athletes to open
up and reveal themselves. From hundreds of interviewees,
though, he recalls one that stands out: the famed
yokozuna Takanohana. The wrestler came from a family
with deep roots in sumo, and he was legendary for continuing
to compete despite a series of painful knee injuries.
Interviewing Takanohana shortly before he retired, Ototake
asked, “‘Why were you willing to put your heart and
soul into sumo the way that you have?’ He responded to
me by saying, ’Ototake-san, that’s where you’re wrong.
I wasn’t putting my soul into sumo: sumo is my soul.’ For
him, it wasn’t a feeling of dedicating his soul to this thing
www.tokyoweekender.com APRIL 2016