Amid cries to nurture bona fide Paralympic superstars in Japan, Gurimu Narita, the men's Pyeongchang Paralympic banked slalom champion, is certainly among the few athletes with the potential to become sports icons as famous as today's able-bodied superstars.
While social recognition of both the Paralympics and Olympics in Japan is virtually the same at around 97 percent and 98 percent, respectively, according to a survey by a professor at Nihon Fukushi University in December 2016, critics point out many still do not know much about the athletes and their sports.
The few exceptions are people like Narita and men's wheelchair tennis champion Shingo Kunieda.