Book Review: No one’s perfect

The Cover of No one’s perfect

Buy this book at Amazon.com

Author: Hirotada Ototake

Reviewer: Mark Groenewold

Date: October, 2005

Hirotada Ototake is a young man born with the condition of tetra-amelia, a condition that has left him both armless and legless. This is his story.

As a young man growing up in Japan where most handicapped people are rarely seen in public, the boy had physical and social challenges that as an able-bodied person I can hardly fathom. So much of this website is devoted to the practice of karate, how to use your body, how to use your arms and legs as deadly weapons, how to use your limbs for balance and to generate momentum and power. These are considerations that do not affect Mr. Ototake. Having neither arms or legs, for him karate is as much an abstraction as flying.

But what Mr. Ototake has instead is the inner world of a person who has overcome massive inequality and barriers. This short book documents his life, his growing up, his family life and their steadfast love and support, his school experiences, and the development and growth of his character.

Some people are under the impression that it is the study of karate that lends itself to the development of character. I suggest reading this book of a Japanese man with no arms and legs first before drawing that hasty conclusion.

I truly enjoyed this short autobiography as it takes a young man struggling with and growing with his physical disabilities who develops a passion for his country to be more accessible to people in wheelchairs. His mission is to make Japan "barrier free" for wheelchairs and the handicapped to move freely in public buildings and on public roads and streets. Japan is woefully behind in developing these amenities, although we are seeing some slow changes as time marches on.

But Mr. Ototake does not stop there. Certainly, the mission of making our physical environments accessible and "barrier free" is important. It is an important step in making our societies equal and fair for all. But there is more to being "barrier free" than just fixing sidewalks and installing elevators in buildings. There is the whole question of improving the "barrier free" quality of the human heart. Where there is ignorance and a mentality of ignoring problems there is also the inability to see our fellow human beings as our equals.

For Mr. Ototake, a human being is not the mere sum of his physical parts and pieces. A human being is measured by the quality of his character, the condition of his humanity towards others, and the contribution one makes to their fellow citizen and neighbor.

A marvelous short autobiography. Inspiring reading!

Mark Groenewold
Kanazawa, Japan
October, 2005