“A Place to Learn from Mistakes, Friends to Grow Together, and Create a Small Community Where We Support Each Other” — Thoughts from Hiroshi Nojima, Representative of ZEN
Through its social contribution activities, Chugai Pharmaceutical aims to realize an inclusive society in which everyone can play an active role with vigor. The activity site of ZEN showcases the exact scenes our company aims for. We would like to share the thoughts of Representative Director Nojima, who expresses a desire to “create opportunities for children to grow on their own.”
Profile of Hiroshi Nojima
Hiroshi Nojima was born in Tokyo in 1962. Due to a traffic accident at the age of 17, he became a wheelchair user. At the age of 32, he encountered competitive skiing and was selected as a member of the Japanese team for the Nagano Paralympics at the age of 36. Currently, he serves as a board member of the Japan Chair Ski Association, engaging in activities to promote and develop junior athletes. Additionally, as the representative director of ZEN General Incorporated Association, he works to foster independence in children with disabilities, enabling them to live vibrant, enjoyable, and empowered lives.
A small community has been created there. Trust and support each other, and everyone supports everyone. Encourage them, even when they cannot, and rejoice when they achieve. With children in the middle, today is like yesterday, and tomorrow is like today. It is a space where everyone thinks so.
Saiko, located in the city of Toda, Saitama Prefecture, is a reservoir that supplies water to the metropolitan area and also serves as a flood control system during heavy rainfall. It plays a crucial supporting role that can be relied upon in times of need. There is a 4.6 km loop course here, and on weekends, cyclists and runners enjoy spending time on it in their own ways.
Hiroshi Nojima, Representative Director of ZEN, gathered five children in wheelchairs, aged 5 to 10. The goal was to have the children experience hand cycles, which serve a role similar to bicycles for wheelchair users. Hand cycles, as the name suggests, are hand-pedaled bicycles, and they have been officially included as a cycling event in the Paralympics since the 2008 Beijing Games.
There are six staff members, including Nojima. Nearby, the children were watched over by their accompanying parents.
“Today, we’re going to do a full loop around the park. There are quite a few hills along the way, but let’s all do our best!”
Nojima talked to everyone first, and “hand cycle class for parents and children to have fun” was started.
Some children are on the handcycle for the first time and others have participated in a competition. Some children enjoyed it with a smile, and others said, “I want to try riding a bicycle,” and tried to take part, but others looked anxious. Each child has various feelings. The job of staff and parents is to turn these children’s feelings forward.
Just after 1 km from the start point, we saw a slope. The ascent is about 100 meters, which is hard for even a general bicycle to climb. Children’s facial expressions have changed to gritted teeth. In the lower grades, it is still difficult to ascend the slope independently. Even so, they pedaled with all their might, receiving help from the staff.
The oldest participant, Yuta Uwadoko, had set a goal for the day: to climb that hill by himself. He started the climb smoothly, but when he reached about 10 meters to the top, his speed began to drop. Even so, he firmly refused to let the staff push him from behind. Encouraged by shouts of “Yuta! You can do it!” from everyone, he prepared for one last push. As he reached the top with a determined grunt, everyone cheered, “You did it!” in celebration.
Yuta said, “I was really happy to climb the hill today without needing any help for the first time.” He smiled and added, “It was fun!”
■Creating Opportunities for Children Who Use Wheelchairs
Nojima is a former Paralympic representative for Japan in chair skiing and currently serves as a director for both the Japan Chair Skiing Association and the Japan Disabled Golf Association. In his position, his primary role may be to nurture athletes for parasports competing on the world stage. However, what Nojima values even more through ZEN’s activities is providing children with the opportunity to grow on their own.
He began to think this way in 2005. Around that time, he was asked by Momoka Muraoka, who would later become the head of the Japanese delegation for the Beijing Paralympics, to take her to a ski resort for a chair skiing experience.
It was there that he realized something important. He noticed that while children could improve their skills surrounded by adults, they lacked opportunities to play together with their peers. He thought that this was not right. Children learn from each other when they are together. He realized that there were few places for children who use wheelchairs to have those experiences.
At that time, there was no ski equipment available for children who use wheelchairs, so he decided to gather children for outdoor activities during the summer instead. That was the prototype of ZEN.
Nojima had certain principles in mind when starting the activities. “Foster growth through community, and nurture individuality,” and “bring what has been nurtured individually back into the community.”
“Japanese people are known for teaching the fundamentals of any sport rigorously. For instructors, that’s a relatively easy task. If you yell and have them practice repeatedly, anyone can improve. They can even win in competitions. But that approach only works until middle school. After that, their growth tends to stagnate. Of course, I teach the fundamentals to prevent injuries when playing sports, but I believe it’s more important for children to gather their own experiences while having fun. They should think freely and apply their own experiences to foster growth. Children who can do this are strong in overcoming setbacks. I want to provide the opportunities for that.”
ZEN’s activities are diverse. In addition to hand cycle experiences, ZEN offers activities like camping, canoeing, softball, and of course, skiing in the winter. That said, not every child can enjoy overnight sports or outdoor activities from the very beginning.
“When children are with their parents, the parents tend to do everything for them, so the kids often don’t realize what they can actually do on their own. Parents are the same way. When I suggest going on a training camp, they often respond, ‘My child can’t do that.’ They say things like, ‘They might have accidents or cause trouble.’ When I reply, ‘Accidents like that are no problem at all,’ the parents are often surprised. As parents, their role is to shower their children with love, but sometimes that can lead to overprotection. I want them to become independent by playing with their peers through sports.”
Through sports, children experience many failures. Neither the children nor the adults around them may know what the right answer is. However, if they don’t take on challenges, they will never experience failure. When they fail, they start to think about how to deal with that failure. Drawing out children’s potential happens in a “small community” centered around them, where any failure can lead to growth, and ZEN’s role is to support that process.
Yuta’s father, Takashi Uedoko, who participated in the hand cycle event that day, said:
“Usually, Yuta needs support during bathroom trips, but when it was decided that he would go on the training camp, he started to think on his own, ‘I need to do this by myself.’ He began practicing at home and became able to do it independently. I feel that he is growing every day.”
Nojima says:
“I hope that by experiencing various things, they can find the mountain they want to climb and go for it. ZEN’s goal is to create opportunities for growth through small communities for children.”
A message from Kohya Tatsumi
Kohya Tatsumi,
Social Contribution Group, ESG Promotion Department, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.:
Hiroshi Nojima, Representative Director of General Incorporated Association ZEN, is a person with an irresistible charm that cannot be captured in a single word. The space that Nojima creates warmly embraces children with disabilities and their families, allowing participants to naturally make friends and take on challenges. Sparkling smiles abound as children enjoy various outdoor activities like chair skiing, kayaking, and hand biking in an extraordinary setting. Through communication with friends and adults, they are growing stronger and more resilient. Not only do they have fun, but they also have the opportunity to challenge themselves with higher hurdles and experience failure. I believe that ZEN’s activities expand the future possibilities for many children.