More Than Medals - by Dennis J Frost (Paperback)

About the Book

"How does a small provincial city in southern Japan become the site of a world-famous wheelchair marathon that has been attracting the best international athletes since 1981? In More Than Medals, Dennis J. Frost answers this question and addresses the histories of individuals, institutions, and events -- the 1964 Paralympics, the FESPIC Games, the ita International Wheelchair Marathon, the Nagano Winter Paralympics, and the 2021 Tokyo Summer Games that played important roles in the development of disability sports in Japan. Sporting events in the postwar era, Frost shows, have repeatedly served as forums for addressing the concerns of individuals with disabilities. More Than Medals provides new insights on the cultural and historical nature of disability and demonstrates how sporting events have challenged some stigmas associated with disability, while reinforcing or generating others. Frost analyzes institutional materials and uses close readings of media, biographical sources, and interviews with Japanese athletes to highlight the profound -- though often ambiguous -- ways in which sports have shaped how postwar Japan has perceived and addressed disability. His novel approach highlights the importance of the Paralympics and the impact that disability sports have had on Japanese society."--

Book Synopsis

How does a small provincial city in southern Japan become the site of a world-famous wheelchair marathon that has been attracting the best international athletes since 1981?

In More Than Medals, Dennis J. Frost answers this question and addresses the histories of individuals, institutions, and events--the 1964 Paralympics, the FESPIC Games, the Ōita International Wheelchair Marathon, the Nagano Winter Paralympics, and the 2021 Tokyo Summer Games that played important roles in the development of disability sports in Japan. Sporting events in the postwar era, Frost shows, have repeatedly served as forums for addressing the concerns of individuals with disabilities. More Than Medals provides new insights on the cultural and historical nature of disability and demonstrates how sporting events have challenged some stigmas associated with disability, while reinforcing or generating others.

Frost analyzes institutional materials and uses close readings of media, biographical sources, and interviews with Japanese athletes to highlight the profound--though often ambiguous--ways in which sports have shaped how postwar Japan has perceived and addressed disability. His novel approach highlights the importance of the Paralympics and the impact that disability sports have had on Japanese society.

Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Review Quotes

Frost's pioneering and well-researched monograph has to offer to scholars and students of sports history, disability studies, and contemporary Japanese history[.]

-- "Monumenta Nipponica"

More than Medals is a meticulously researched book with rich information, including interviews with key people and literature reviews, deep analyses, and powerful insights. It is very readable as well. For me, this book has been a source of great delight.

-- "ScienceOpen.com"

More Than Medals gives a detailed, nuanced analysis of how disability sports have transformed over the last fifty years. Frost's study is a welcome addition to the field of sports history.

-- "Studies on Asia"

More Than Medals is an excellent and well-researched book which will speak to many readers, and which breaks ground in the study of disability sports - not solely in Japan or Asia, but in general!

-- "The International Journal of the History of Sport"

Dennis J Frost's More Than Medals: A History of the Paralympics and Disability Sports in Postwar Japan is a very comprehensive historiography of this topic, applying the author's careful review of Japanese primary sources, including literature and interviews. Foreign-language speakers of any language have difficulty accessing the references in the field, as I have experienced as a native speaker of Japanese and with English as a foreign language. Thus, I think Frost has done an excellent job with this historical study. Overall, this book has outstanding analyses of disability sports in Japan. I encourage my colleagues in disability studies, both in Japan and outside the country, to read this work.

-- "H-Net"

The author provides excellent background on the organization of sporting associations. Employing diverse sources ranging from personal narratives to mass media accounts and institutional materials, Frost shows that disability sports have offered a prominent, though until now undertheorized, arena in which postwar Japan has interrogated and challenged notions of disability, national pride, and athletic excellence.

-- "Choice"

About the Author

Dennis J. Frost is Wen Chao Chen Professor of East Asian Social Sciences in the Department of History at Kalamazoo College. He is author of Seeing Stars.