I have never trusted role models. There is something odd about presenting a specific person as an example to be followed, simply because that person may have achieved something great in one aspect of their life. In my case, I admire the work or the achievement, but resist all attempts to turn the person responsible for the great work into a "role model."

To me, it is a very unusual psychological need: to have the people who do or create great things also to have led good lives — lives that we should emulate. I hold the writings of Osamu Dazai in high esteem, but the fact that he committed suicide suggests his life, as a whole, is not one to be envied and copied.

When I read about Hirotada Ototake's fall from grace, my feelings on the matter were mixed. As a person with a disability, I enjoyed his 1998 memoir, "Gotai Fumanzoku" ("No One's Perfect"), a great deal. His behavior — the "inappropriate relationships" he has admitted to having with five women — is indefensible. So yes, I was disappointed with Ototake. However, I was even more disappointed with the way the media presented Ototake, since the media, as far as I am concerned, turned him into a "Supercrip."