[1] When Nagano City was selected as the host city for the 1998 Winter Olympic Games on June 15, 1991, other demands arose, both from the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and from other parties, so that the city could also host what was called "other Olympics" also scheduled for that year.On November 8, 1991, the IPC sent an official document inviting Nagano to host the 8th edition of the Winter Paralympic Games and on July 30, 1992, the Bid Committee for the 1998 Winter Paralympics was launched.

The Promotion Council was chaired by the president of the Japan Sports Association for the Disabled, and consisted of 13 committee members and two observers.

[2][3][3] The bidding board was chaired by the president of the Japan Sports Association for the Physically Disabled and consisted of 13 committee members and two observers.

On April 1, 1995, a Paralympic Management sector was established within the city Disability Welfare Division in order to carry out operations in a more professional manner.

[4] The same delegation that was in Lillehammer to participate in the signing ceremony of the host city contract in Norway was present at the closing ceremony and received the Paralympic flag from the mayor of Lillehammer on March 19, 1994 and three days later on March 22 of that year, there was an official ceremony to receive the Paralympic flag.This was the first public main event to raise public awareness and understanding of the Games, and the construction of the Paralympic Village in Kawanakajima Imai, to meet the needs of people with disabilities.In addition, various citizen groups promoted projects to create a people-friendly town, where they conducted surveys to find out what problems people with various disabilities face in living a safe and comfortable life, and proposed countermeasures.

After that, on June 17, 1996, 600 days before the 1998 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies, a joint management committee in which the common areas of the two events were merged, with the then mayor Tasuku Tsukada assuming the presidency of both and also exercising the coordination and intermediation function and the city divided the work of dispatching staff to the Games into eight departments: general affairs, facilities, environment, culture, spectators, transportation, Olympic venues, and Paralympic venues, and the organizing work started.After this event, the first measure action for the NAPOC was relative to the provide financial assistance, including operating subsidies, amounting to over ¥1.21 billion; second, to have the mayor and other city executives assumed the posts of vice-chairs and organizing committee members of NAPOC and in their respective functions; and third, to dispatch a total of 51 city employees to promote the work of NAPOC both before and after its establishment.

Is also noted that there was an expansion of several programs designed for the Olympic Games for the Paralympic Games in order to expand the involvement of the local population in relation to the two events: one of them was "One School, One Country" and poster, painting, writing, drawing and slogan competitions for high school students.The "Happy Nagano Campaign" was also held, which included providing free pork soup to the general public and making souvenirs which were being sold to help finance various social projects.The engagement of the local population was so great that other groups and committees were created to provide support in other activities, such as the Nagano Paralympic Countdown Event Executive Committee, and the Nagano Paralympic Games Support Executive Committee.

Among them, the "Nagano Para-Volunteer Association" was an organization made up of groups of people with disabilities and the volunteer groups that support them, and attracted attention for its unique activities, mainly in Nagano City, with the goal of "encouraging the Paralympic athletes and raising awareness of people with disabilities from a free perspective as citizens of the host city.

[6][6][4] The philosophy of the Nagano Paralympic Winter Games was "To bring together physically disabled people from around the world, to expand the circle of friendship and international goodwill through sports, a culture shared by all mankind, to discover new possibilities, and to inspire bright hope and courage," and the main slogan of the Games is "Interaction and Inspiration."

The symbol mark is an abbreviation of the character "Nagano" (cho) and depicts a rabbit running around happily and speedily on the snow and ice, enjoying the sport.

The theme of the event was "Hope and Legacy," and was directed and created by actor Mansaku Nomura, who developed an event in which arts from across Asia and Japan mixed elements of Noh and Kyogen, two of the four forms of classical Japanese theater, and it was structured without distinguishing between a ceremony and a festival, with a new performing art " in a traditional Dengaku event " With the participation of about 1,150 athletes and officials, and about 8,000 spectators, the ceremony proceeded solemnly and movingly in the following order: entry of the athletes, raising of the national flags, dragon dance, and the protocol segments.The ceremony ended with the extinguishing of the Paralympic cauldron to the sound of "Ue o Muite Arukō" by Susan Osbourne.

[4][14][14] It is noteworthy that the organizers of the Games, during the pre-production of the ceremony, asked by the official website, newspapers and the television to the Japanese population to send Orizuru made of paper to decorate the M-Wave as a wish of good luck for the future of the Paralympic Games.The paper crane is one of most know and traditional symbols.