Taguchi Aki: Japanese Paralympic Delegation Head Shares Outlook for Paris and Hopes of Games Spurring Social Change

Taguchi Aki (center) and other Japanese Paralympic team members unveil the team’s motto at the official launch ceremony in Chiyoda, Tokyo, on July 16, 2024.(© Matsumoto Sōichi)

Taguchi warms up before the shooting competition at the London Paralympics in July 2012. (© Taguchi Aki)

Taguchi joins athletes and entertainers at a Tokyo 2020 promotional event in Tokyo in 2018. (© Jiji)

Taguchi and Olympic fencer Ōta Yūki speak to the press in Tokyo following a presentation to the International Olympic Committee in 2013. (© Jiji)

Taguchi says the Tokyo Games helped reduce the barriers between Olympians and Paralympians. (© Kawamoto Seiya)

The lighting of the flame during the opening ceremony of the Paralympics at the National Stadium in Tokyo on August 24, 2021. (© Jiji)

From left: Wheelchair tennis coach Nakazawa Yoshihiro, swimmer Nishida An, Taguchi, long jumper Ishiyama Daiki, and Ida Tomohiro, Secretary General of the Japanese Paralympic Committee, at the official launch ceremony for Japan’s Paralympic team. (© Matsumoto Sōichi)

(© Kawamoto Seiya)