Famed Japanese author with no limbs confesses to 5 extramarital affairs as he prepares for political career
The memoir that Hirotada Ototake published in 1998 propelled him to stardom in Japan. No One’s Perfect is his true-life story of struggling to get on in Japanese society after being born with no arms or legs won him admiration and respect and he became a frequent commentator on television shows before forging a career in sports journalism and teaching.
Ototake was famous for zipping around in a custom-built wheelchair with a big smile, despite being born with tetra-amelia syndrome, while his book became the third best-selling book released since the war in its first year in print.
Two years ago, 39-year-old Ototake set up a non-profit organisation dedicated to keeping the streets clean in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward, where he was born, and there had been suggestions that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party was looking into inviting him to stand as its candidate in elections for the Upper House of parliament in the summer.
The reputation and career that he worked so hard to build have come crashing down, however, after Japan’s tabloid media revealed that Ototake has been carrying on no fewer than five extramarital relationships.
My conduct towards my wife, who has supported me this far, and others who have helped my career is an act of betrayal that cannot be forgiven
Confronted by reporters from the Shukan Shincho, Ototake admitted that he went to Paris and Tunisia in December with a woman in her late 20s.
“There were sexual relations,” he admitted, before confessing to having a further four relationships since his marriage in 2001. Ototake and his wife, Hitomi, have three children.
In an effort to quell the storm of indignation, Ototake has replaced his web site with a message expressing his “unworthiness” and regret for causing “inconvenience to many people.”
“My conduct towards my wife, who has supported me this far, and others who have helped my career is an act of betrayal that cannot be forgiven,” he wrote.
He added that after speaking with his wife, Ototake said he is willing to “spend the rest of his life attempting to make amends.”
His wife added a message to the same page, but it has come in for fierce criticism in certain circles.
“I feel that the blame for this situation partly also lies with me,” she wrote, adding that she also regrets the “inconvenience” caused to others.
“Those comments have gone down very badly with women, and particularly women who had perhaps been impressed by Ototake in the past but now feel betrayed by what has happened,” said Makoto Watanabe, a lecturer in communications and media at Hokkaido Bunkyo University.
“The feeling is that she was forced to release that statement because Ototake wants to stand in the summer elections,” he said.
“The revelations of the affair were bad enough. But then her taking the blame in an attempt to lessen his responsibility has made it much worse.”
Given the LDP’s aversion to any sort of negative images as it prepares for the elections, it looks as if Ototake may have missed his chance of a seat in parliament.
“The part is relatively vulnerable and they are not going to take a chance on a candidate whose name could cause them problems,” Watanabe said.
That does not mean that Ototake’s political career is over before it has begun, however, as plenty of Japanese politicians and previously upstanding pillars of society have managed to engineer their comebacks after undergoing a period of “misogi” - the Shinto practice of ritual purification by washing the entire body.
“If he can be reticent and quiet for a time, doing more good works and not appearing in the tabloid papers for a while, then the public might accept him back,” Watanabe said.
“In many ways, he is fortunate that this happened before he became a politician, but it’s certainly going to take time to rehabilitate his reputation,” he said. “Perhaps he could use the time to write another book.”
