Next year Tokyo will become the first city to host the Summer Paralympic Games twice, an opportunity that para athletes and officials believe could be a catalyst toward long-term positive change for people with impairments in Japan.

In the weeks following the 2020 Olympics, the Paralympic Games will return to Tokyo for the first time since 1964. Then, only 19 countries sent delegations which totaled less than 400 athletes. In 2020, 4,400 athletes from over 150 countries will compete.

"[Our] aim is to create a vigorous, inclusive society by 2030, and conducting our business based on our own plans," Tomohiro Ida, secretary general of the Japanese Paralympic Committee, told The Japan Times.