Absent at the inaugural Paralympic Games in 1960 in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

made its

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

debut by hosting the 1964 Games in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. The country has participated in every subsequent edition of the

Summer Paralympics The Summer Paralympics also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, are an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebral ...

, and in every edition of the

Winter Paralympics The Winter Paralympic Games is an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete in snow and ice sports. The event includes athletes with mobility impairments, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. Th ...

since the first in 1976. It has hosted the Paralympic Games twice, with Tokyo hosting the 1964 Summer Games, and

Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...

the

1998 Winter Paralympics The , the seventh Paralympic Winter Games, were held alongside the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan from 5 to 14 March 1998. They were the first Paralympic Winter Games to be held outside Europe. 571 athletes competed in Nagano; as 2022 it remain ...

.The next Summer Paralympics in 2020 was held again in

. Japan is represented by the

Japan Paralympic Committee Japanese Paralympic Committee (JPC) is a National Paralympic Committee (NPC) of Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is border ...

. Japan was the only Asian country to compete at the 1964 Paralympics, and also the only Asian country present at the inaugural Winter Games, making it the first Asian nation to have participated in either Summer or Winter Games. It is also the third most successful Asian country at the Summer Games (behind

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

), having won 424 Paralympic medals, of which 127 are gold, 139 silver and 158 bronze. These results place it 17th in the Summer Games. At the Winter Paralympics, Japan is the most successful nation with 97 medals, with 27 gold, 33 silver and 37 bronze. These results put it in 13th place. Japan won only a single gold medal at the Tokyo Games (in the men's doubles, category C, in table tennis), but rapidly improved, with two gold in 1968, four in 1972, and ten in 1976, with a peak at eighteen in 2004 - though that number stayed to just five in 2008 and 2012. Despite having won 24 medals in Rio, the country returned without any gold medals, 10 silver and 14 bronze. Five years later at home, Japan finished with 13 gold medals and 11th place in the medal table. In the Winter Games, the country emerged as a notable competitor when it hosted the Nagano Games in 1998, winning twelve gold medals - compared to none at all in previous editions, except for the 2002 Winter Paralympics when the Japanese delegation won three bronze medals. Japan won all Winter Paralympics editions after Nagano. Being the best campaign, the last one in Beijing 2022 with 4 gold medals. By far Japan's most successful Paralympian has been swimmer

Mayumi Narita is a Japanese swimmer, described as "one of the world’s best Paralympic athletes" by the International Paralympic Committee. ''Japan Today'' has described her as a "swimming sensation perhaps as great as the Thorpedo but whose name few know". ...

, who won fifteen gold medals for her country between 1996 and 2004, making her one of the world's most successful Paralympians of all time.Japan at the Paralympics
International Paralympic Committee

Hosted Games

Japan have hosted the Games on three occasions, including the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralym ...

(which was postponed to 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Hosted Games

Unsuccessful bids

Medals

Medals by Summer Games

Medals by Winter Games

Medals by sports

Medals by summer sport

Medals by winter sport

See also

References