Overcoming Isolationism: Japan's Leadership in East Asian Security Multilateralism by Paul Midford (review)

Abstract

of the body and disability and second, to demonstrate that Japan’s encounters with the world through international sports events must be understood as a response to the manifold entanglements of sports promotion, welfare politics, and rehabilitation campaigns at both domestic and international levels. The analytical frameworks Frost utilizes stem from studies on inspirational discourse and/or the Paralympian paradox. But above all, his approach relies on a critical adaptation of the leveraging framework that has been widely used in research on sports mega-events to assess the larger significance of a one-time event and its lasting ramifications. In the context of disability advocacy, his slightly modified framework succinctly demonstrates how organizers and special interest groups were able to encourage host municipalities, local audiences, and ultimately the Japanese state to embrace positive change, make legal concessions, and conduct infrastructure improvements in areas well beyond the limited scope of sports. Still, some questions remain unanswered. Given Japan’s leading role in the promotion of disability sports, why is it that the country hardly receives the international acknowledgment it deserves? And while there is no doubt that Paralympic sports have come a long way in Japan since the early years in the 1960s, why do disability scholars continue to lament the poor state of disability rights in one of the wealthiest nations of the world? Notwithstanding the many merits that Frost’s pioneering and well-researched monograph has to offer to scholars and students of sports history, disability studies, and contemporary Japanese history, these loose ends point to the need for further research based on a tighter analytical framework or a shift in focus toward grassroots sports.