“Hunchback,” a novel by Japanese author Saou Ichikawa, is rapidly gaining international recognition, earning nominations for several major Western literary awards despite being the writer’s first published book. Ichikawa, who relies on a ventilator and electric wheelchair due to an incurable congenital muscle disorder, has drawn praise from critics who describe the novel’s global rise as an “unprecedented achievement.”
Saou Ichikawa was born in 1979. Diagnosed in childhood with congenital myopathy, a rare disease that causes muscle weakness, and has used a ventilator since age 14. Ichikawa graduated in March 2023 from Waseda University’s School of Human Sciences correspondence program. Her thesis “The Reciprocal Influence Between the Representation of Disabled People and Real Society” won the Ono Azusa Memorial Academic Prize. Her debut novel “Hunchback” won the 169th Akutagawa Prize in July 2023. Her most recent book, to be published in September 2025 is “A Girl’s Spine”.
The Emperor and Empress looked at artworks such as paintings and watched people with disabilities create them.
Ryo Sato, a 44-year-old Japanese painter who paints with a pencil in his mouth due to a physical disability, is determined to achieve international success. Sato, who is from the city of Aomori, northeastern Japan, showed off his drawing performance at a group exhibition in New York on Thursday.
Manga artists Eri Nanato, 43 and Satoshi Kameyama, 41, have brought the issue of adult developmental disorders to the fore via the pages of a manga series that conveys the challenges they face in real life.
This is the fourth time the event has been held. Unique paintings created by the artists from around the country are displayed at exhibition venues in Monzennakacho, Kiyosumi-Shirakawa, Morishita and Toyosu.
Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on Sunday visited Ishikawa Prefecture to attend the opening ceremony of the National Cultural Festival and the National Arts and Culture Festival for Persons with Disabilities in Kanazawa, the prefecture’s capital.
Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on Sunday visited Ishikawa Prefecture to attend the opening ceremony of the National Cultural Festival and the National Arts and Culture Festival for Persons with Disabilities in Kanazawa, the prefecture’s capital.
Yuta Itani, a sound creator who lives in Kurayoshi City and uses a wheelchair, will participate in the “Gold Concert Grand Championship”, an international performing arts competition for people with disabilities, which will be held at the Tokyo International Forum on September 23rd.
“I wrote this with the mind that there are not many authors (with severe disabilities) like me,” Ichikawa, who uses a ventilator and electric wheelchair, said in a press conference.
Barrier Free Japan