On Thursday, August 9, Meiji University’s Demise Seminar held a hands-on wheelchair softball event for students at the university’s Surugadai campus. Chugai and the Demise Seminar collaborate on activities to raise public awareness of para-sports. This event was sponsored by Chugai, with the additional cooperation of the Kanto Wheelchair Softball Association.

At the event, Japan national team members Koji Ishii and Reo Onuki explained wheelchair softball to the participants, who then got in their own wheelchairs to practice and enjoy an actual match-format game. Afterwards, students who participated gave lots of positive feedback, noting, “Para-sports feel more familiar to me now,” “I learned that wheelchair softball can be enjoyed by anyone, without regard to disability,” and “The feeling of running around in a wheelchair designed for sports was a lot of fun.”