This article revisits a chapter first published on February 21, 2019, in which the author reflects on Rikako Ikee’s leukemia announcement through the lens of his own seven-month battle with serious illness, arguing for the importance of treatment conditions, private hospital care, absolute trust in physicians, and mental strength on the path to complete remission.
It also discusses the burden of extreme training and stress, the responsibility of sports organizations and government authorities, and the need to protect extraordinary talent with the best possible support system.

2019-03-24
The chapter I published on 2019-02-21 under that title has ranked in two categories, 6th in the official hashtag ranking for Maui and 6th in the hashtag ranking for Mao Asada.

The chapter I published on 2019-02-21 under the title,
For leukemia treatment, she should be seen by the best doctor in Tokyo, and no matter how expensive it may be, she should be given a private room and treated there.
has ranked in two categories, 6th in the official hashtag ranking for Maui and 6th in the hashtag ranking for Mao Asada.
When television first reported the major news about Rikako Ikee, I happened to have the TV on.
I was having dinner in the evening with a close friend at a familiar restaurant.
Naturally, in this age of smartphones, everyone already knew.
It is no exaggeration to say that I watch television mainly to see sports news and sports broadcasts.
When that news came on, what crossed my mind was footage of Ms. Ikee training at high altitude in the United States with an intensity I had never seen before.
I grew up in Yuriage, a seaside town in Miyagi Prefecture, so I was practically born to swim.
The Natori River and the sea are both deep, so even local people sometimes drown through some mishap….
Probably as a result of fooling around, drinking alcohol, and then swimming.
That is why the harbor is a no-swimming zone.
I spent my junior high school summer vacations diving off boats without caring about such things.
I was made to stand before the entire student body, and after returning to the classroom, my homeroom teacher….
Even now I cannot forget the fierce slap, full of affection, that I received.
The reason I am a person who loves sports is not only that by the fifth grade I had been given the intellect of a second-year high school student, but also that every morning I ate Sendai natto, and in addition to the crops from the fields….
I grew up in Yuriage, a port town directly administered by the Date clan and renowned for its delicious fish….
That too is why I became a person with outstanding athletic ability.
Although I was in the brass band and played alto saxophone, I was suddenly called up to compete in the triathlon event at a Natori City competition, put on spikes for the first time in my life, and ran the 100-meter straightaway.
Even so, I was in first place until after the 80-meter mark….
From there my lack of experience showed, and I slowed down sharply….
When I was in high school and commuting by JR, I happened to meet the person from another school who had won that event….
He remembered me clearly….
He said he had been truly surprised and flustered that I, whom he had never seen before and whose name he had never heard in the city until then, had been running in first place right up to the brink of the finish….
Even I, who suffered my first defeat in competition, had set a new junior high city record.
A track-and-field teacher even told me that if I went to high school and trained under a proper coach, I could run the 100 meters in the ten-second range, and because I was that fast, I love virtually all sports that involve a sense of speed.
From a certain point on, I became drawn to figure skating, especially women’s figure skating….
As for men, Hanyu, and Uno when he was in peak form.
I have watched it as much as anyone in Japan.
At one point, in the bar of the Hotel Okura in Tokyo, I happened to sit next to Ms. Shirota, who at the time was called the empress of women’s figure skating, and our conversation became lively, but to my great regret, I ended up loudly scolding her and leaving….
It was when Mao Asada became the Japanese national champion at the age of fourteen….
At that time, not only Japan but the whole world thought and wanted to see that she was the best in the world.
Even though the international president at the time had said that if Japan had made a strong request, it might have been considered, she stuck to formalistic arguments and did not send Mao Asada, who had appeared as a true genius, to the Olympics….
And when I saw her talking with two specific fellows about arranging skaters for the Grand Prix Series as though she were some kind of fixer, Nobunaga exploded with rage….
I still feel sorry to that lady even now.
As those around me and my readers know, around the time the Ritz-Carlton opened on Maui in Hawaii, at the front bar overlooking the pool and the sea, I received a burning, passionate gaze from Michelle Kwan from right behind me.
As for figure skating, I will leave that for another day.
Until I saw the news about Ms. Ikee, I had never been overcome with such feelings.
I too fell ill suddenly….
In my case, the stress caused by encountering unbelievable villains and being swindled out of a huge amount of money became killer stress.
In May 2011, feeling an abnormality unlike anything I had ever experienced, I went to Saiseikai Hospital.
On the first day I was told it was nothing serious, but the next day as well I thought, “This is strange,” and went back.
The initial diagnosis was mild pneumonia….
If I was hospitalized, they said, recovery would be quick….
I agreed immediately, returned to the office, and told the managing director that I would be hospitalized starting the next day.
Before long, the phone on my desk rang….
“We found something terrible….”
From the sound of that voice alone, I knew this was no ordinary matter….
The moment I heard the name of the illness, I prepared myself to die….
I cannot die now….
But after that, all I could do was leave it to the doctors….
Having long told those around me that I am an infinite thinker who wishes to live on forever…, death had always been to me something beyond mere fear.
I was surprised myself that I made that resolve in an instant.
When I had my teeth examined at the hospital dental department because of the side effects that would appear after treatment began, I was truly calm, to the point that the doctor in charge was impressed….
I had made up my mind.
Saiseikai Hospital is a very good hospital, but unfortunately, it did not have private rooms.
To fight this illness and to live, a private room was absolutely necessary….
Because of nursing and related circumstances, I could not leave the Umeda area….
Kitano Hospital came to mind.
I went down to the basement and completed the procedures.
Only a very expensive room was available, but one cannot put a price on life.
Most of the cost of my seven-month hospitalization was probably the room charge.
It was a huge sum.
Only after I was discharged did I first learn that our managing director had asked a close acquaintance and arranged five million yen, half of that amount….
Not only had I been swindled out of more than one hundred million yen by villains carrying the DNA of a country of “bottomless evil” and “plausible lies,” but even my treasured building had been subjected to terrible harm.
The fact that my attending physicians were doctors from Kyoto University’s medical school also led to my complete remission.
Especially because the young doctor who was my primary physician was, so to speak, my junior.
The doctors too treated me as their senior.
It is no exaggeration to say that this is why I recovered.
Above all, I had absolute psychological trust in the doctors and nurses.
At my first meeting with the department chief, accompanied by the doctors, I said this.
“I was originally the kind of person who was told to shoulder Kyoto University on these two shoulders, and there are things I must continue writing, so I cannot die now.
Please think of it as being for Japan and for the world, and save me….”
Another reason I was able to reach complete remission was this….
I resolved that if this had happened, I had no choice but to live in the hospital room as though it were my home….
For that purpose, I had a PC and a TV brought in, had help with a scanner and dictation input, and I continued sending out messages to the world almost every day.
A long-time interior contractor acquaintance transported three Panasonic massage chairs and air purifiers for me.
Now then,
My attending doctor said that my illness was “like a traffic accident.”
Through this serious illness, I became convinced of one thing….
Illness comes from stress.
That is what I believe.
Rikako Ikee is already the best swimmer in the world.
She truly is a child of swimming, born to swim….
She is one of the world’s greatest talents, standing alongside Rika Kihira, who appeared in women’s figure skating.
Every part of her body existed for swimming.
For her, training of such ferocity was unnecessary….
Up until 2020, it would have been enough to study her one and only rival thoroughly and continue strengthening her own strong points.
Swimming is among the most intense of sports….
It is the ultimate full-body exercise.
I am convinced that, even if perhaps marathon running might be different, there was no need in swimming for such extremely intense high-altitude training….
This is all the more true in the case of an athlete like Ikee, blessed with such rare natural talent.
By training scientifically, enjoyably, and rigorously to the fullest, she could have become the best in the world in 2020.
The swimming federation must provide every possible assistance to Rikako Ikee….
For leukemia treatment, she should be seen by the best doctor in Tokyo, and no matter how expensive it may be, she should be given a private room and treated there.
Because athlete Ikee, like me, possesses essential physical strength, she is certain to achieve complete remission….
All the more so because around her are her grandmother and family, countless close friends and friends, and all the people of Japan, who love her.
That day, my close friend said this….
“Masako Natsume and Minako Honda too, because they were actresses and concerned with body shape and such, did not have the physical strength to endure treatment….
Someone like me could never do it….”
If, after complete remission, this extraordinary genius swimmer is to aim for a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics as well, then a perfectly prepared and meticulous plan must be drawn up in accordance with her wishes.
Because the moment I heard the report, what flashed in my mind was the footage of her high-altitude training in the United States, which I had watched while thinking, “Is it really necessary to go that far.”
Up until 2020, it would have been enough for her to keep training daily so that she could edge past her rivals by the slightest touch, and that kind of outlandishly intense training was unnecessary.
That outlandishly intense training kept imposing stress beyond the limits even on the body of a genius, and that became killer stress and attacked Ms. Ikee’s body.
The responsibility lies with the swimming federation….
And ultimately with the Sports Agency as well.
The swimming federation and the Japanese government must provide her with the best treatment environment in Tokyo.
In all sports, the method of assigning mediocrities to train true geniuses and imposing brutal practice upon them must be corrected.
That is….
What sports officials must realize to be the lesson, or rather the punishment, gained at far too great a price.
Finally, my seven months of battling illness were like a dream, and until then I had never recalled them as vividly as on that day….
That day, when my thoughts turned to the treatment Ms. Ikee was about to undergo….
Suddenly, the days of my own treatment rushed through my mind all at once like a revolving lantern.
I could not stop my tears.
Ms. Ikee possesses extraordinary physical strength, so she will surely achieve complete remission….
There may even be the possibility of accomplishing the miracle of making it in time for the Olympics.
But the swimming federation and the Sports Agency must provide the utmost support.