My eye-level is 106 cm when I sit in a wheelchair.

When I was born, a magical spell was placed on me which made my bones weak and easy to break, so I have been using a wheelchair since elementary school. There were times that I became full of feelings of “wanting to be able to walk” and “wishing I wasn’t in a wheelchair”, and tried my hardest to overcome my disability. When I realized it wouldn’t happen, I gave up hope and even tried to take my life.

This was until at one point I thought “Whom do I want to walk for?” The answer I came up with was, “for myself.” That would be the same as living a very self-centered life so I wondered, “What do I want to live for?” The realization that I must stay alive for my family, friends and girlfriend was a revelation that being able to walk is not everything.

Changing my way of thinking to “there are things I can do without being able to walk”, took a huge emotional load off my shoulders. Eventually, that train of thought evolved into “there are things I can do only because I can’t walk”. I can only see the hidden yielding inconveniences and obstacles in society because I am wheelchair-bound. Living in the world seen at a 106 cm eye-level gives me a different perspective from other people. If I use those characteristics as advantages, maybe I can come up with an undiscovered business. That belief inspired me to launch Mirairo when I was a student. I would like to share this life story of mine with you.

By the time I entered junior high school, I was completely wheelchair-bound. One day, something happened that changed the course of my life. My friend and I got away from school cleaning duties to enjoy ourselves, and that became a problem in my class. However, I was pardoned because “Toshi-kun is disabled and it can’t be helped that he can’t help with lunch service and cleaning”. It wasn’t until my classmates called me “disabled” did I become aware that I was a “person with a disability”. From this day on, it felt as if there was a constricting divide in the classroom between the abled and disabled.
When we reached the third year of junior high, I was more excited about the coming overnight school trip than anyone else. The itinerary for the first day was to see the sights of Hiroshima City, and that for the second day was to enjoy marine sports on a nearby island. However, activities on the isolated island were far from barrier-free and would be difficult for me. On the fateful morning, I saw off the bus full of my classmates from the hotel entrance. I wore my hat deep over my eyes to desperately hide the tears. To this day, I still clearly remember how I felt as I waved goodbye. “I will become able to walk no matter what” is the promise I made to myself as I headed home alone.

Graduating from junior high, I entered a public high school in my hometown. The building was four-stories high and we had to frequently move to different classrooms. On top of that, my homeroom was on the second floor and I needed to go up and down stairs every day. Each time I had to ask someone to carry my wheelchair for me and I hated it because “I didn’t want to be thought of as a burden”. I was continually trying to read what people were thinking, and it became unbearable having to depend on others to live. I felt that not being able to walk and being in a wheelchair made me look weak and pathetic.

Almost six months into my freshman year, I decided to take a leave of absence from high school. On the belief that things would change if I became able to walk, I wanted to focus on treatment and rehabilitation. I thought about what needed to be done to be able to walk and took leave as soon as my first year of school ended. Reaching the decision to receive medical treatment from a specialist, I underwent surgery and was bedridden for the subsequent three months. Then, day after day, I spent all day focusing on rehabilitation to get even one step closer to my goal of walking. January 2007 marked the end of my ten-month fight with my illness. Despite all those efforts, I was not able to walk in the end. Still, I feel that these ten months were very meaningful. I had made the decision on my own, taken action and produced results regardless of if they were good or bad.

Two months into my leave of absence it was determined based on school rules of attendance that I would be held back a year and wouldn’t be able to graduate with my friends. I was so intent on not being held back that I quit high school. I attained a diploma equivalent to high school graduation and set my sights on enrolling in college. I commuted daily by train to a prep school that was one hour away from my home. After rigorously studying for one year, I miraculously achieved my goal and was accepted into College of Business Administration at Ritsumeikan Univ. When I received the acceptance letter in my hospital room, I was so happy that I pushed the nurse call button and called in the nurses in my ward. There was a prep school teacher who tutored me over the phone every day. There were friends I grew up with who also cheered me on via their e-mails and calls, nurses who went beyond their call of duty and made me a desk for my exclusive use so it would be easier to study and even bought me a desk lamp. Above all, the biggest support came from my family.

At university, I pursued the entrepreneurship course. Being able to choose lectures freely and living on my own for the first time was pure bliss. A month after I enrolled in the college, it occurred to me I would not be able to become a entrepreneur just by sitting and studying. I made a cold call to an IT venture firm to say, “I would like to train myself with you!” and received my first-ever job. The role given to me was to create websites. A year later, I found a part-time job at a different company and gained experience in sales. I learned many things.

At university, I became friends with Takero Tamino (the current Vice President of Mirairo) and we talked about “doing something big together!” We brainstormed on business ideas and established the group Value Added Network (VAN), the predecessor of Mirairo. We spent nights thinking of what could be done, and action was taken, but they were all immediate-profit-centered which led to none of them lasting long. It wasn’t until we took part in creating a barrier-free map for my university that we decided to spread similar efforts to universities nationwide. Our business content was to be map creation and dissemination of barrier-free info. Our models were awarded at business competitions and gave us more opportunities to speak in front of many people. Such opportunities led to a better understanding of the problems faced by people with disabilities and the elderly and what is needed for those people.

Through this experience, I came to understand how difficult it was to come up with a business and implement it, let alone realized how many people there were to support it. As the activities of VAN began to pick up, there were times at which I would ask myself what I could accomplish with the rest of my life. I concluded I would use my own time not only for myself, but also for others. To do that, I would need to spread what I could do to society. That led to the launch of Mirairo Inc. in 2010.

Mirairo Inc. was established in June 2010. Our first line of work was to create barrier-free maps for universities. In the second year, we also began universal design consultation from the perspective of people with disabilities. It was around that time that the “universal manners” training business was started. With the idea that “hardware cannot be changed, but the heart can”, instructors with disabilities speak on a view it is our society that has a disorder. By presenting knowledge and skills of how to reach out and support people with disabilities and the elderly, and explaining about the feelings of the disabled, it raises awareness and understanding among participants.

What made me think of this business was that through starting universal design consulting, I realized that it was difficult to physically change environments due to budget and space constraints. However, just by changing the response of staff, we were able to resolve many problems. It was named universal “manners” with the spirit of making it a culture not only for companies but for society as a whole.

With the start of the training business, we received inquiries from a wide range of industries such as leisure and accommodation facilities and wedding halls, and that turned the business into one of the main breadwinners of Mirairo. In 2013, we established the Universal Manners Test. In addition to private companies, there has been many inquiries from schools and local governments, and as of June 2020, more than 100,000 people have obtained qualifications. More than 600 companies, organizations and schools have adopted the Universal Manners Test in their employee education and student curriculum. Instructors for the Universal Manners Test include Mirairo employees and people outside the company with disabilities who are active in various parts of Japan.

In addition, we have expanded the types of training to meet diverse needs and started the Universal Communication Training, Universal Work Training, LGBT-Friendly Manners Training, and Dementia-Friendly Manners Training.

The Universal Communication Training is a course to understand about hearing impairment and learn various communication methods. For those who have never had contact with the hearing impaired, or who have had few opportunities to interact with or ask questions to the hearing impaired directly, lectures are given and a workshop is conducted by the instructors with impaired hearing, along with a simple sign language lesson. The starting point for the Universal Work Training is “working” with people with mental and developmental disabilities, and learning about communication and manners common to all people. The course lecture helps to deepen the basic understanding of people with mental and developmental disabilities, and based on the acquired knowledge, practical measures are considered through casework. At the end, there is time for a Q&A, so questions can be answered about personal cases and examples.

LGBT is an initialism for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender serving as an umbrella term for people who prefer the same sex or both sexes, and for those who feel a disagreement between the sexes of their mind and body, such as gender dysphoria and transgender. The LGBT-Friendly Manners Training is a comprehensive course on basic terminology, history and how to respond in the workplace along with concrete examples of initiatives.


The Dementia-Friendly Manners Training teaches how to communicate with people with dementia. While learning about the overview of dementia, it can be understood that there are many things that can be resolved by changing the communication method and environment of the surrounding, not by changing the actual person.

By doing so, the image of dementia can be changed as well. In this way, the training business that started from the realization that “hardware cannot be changed, but the heart can” has not stopped at private companies. In 2019, the Ministry of Finance was the first to introduce it among the ministries and agencies and it has become widely adopted. While expanding the training content to meet the needs of customers and also the business to promote understanding of a wide range of diversity which includes disabilities, we are continuing efforts aimed at achieving both social and economic efficiencies.

Mirairo developed a disability certificate app called Mirairo ID and released it on July 1, 2019. Those who have a disability certificate can use this free app to register information on the disability certificate, welfare equipment specifications, details of support required, etc., and present the Mirairo ID as an identity verification to businesses that recognize it. This means it is possible to show the app screen instead of the disability certificate.

One example is that if you have a disability certificate, you can receive a discount on transportation such as taxis and trains. In order to get a discount, it is necessary to show the disability certificate, but there were many problems with the certificate. The standards for the certificate differ from one municipality to another, which number around 300. Therefore, it is difficult for the business operator who checks the certificate to instantly find the necessary information which results in the process taking time. In addition, people who use the disability certificate also must go through the trouble of taking it out, worry about wear and tear caused by carrying it around, and be concerned about surrounding eyes.

If the Mirairo ID is used, only the necessary information from the certificate can be displayed, which saves the trouble of confirmation on the part of the business operator. It can also be presented smoothy from smartphones, so no one is searching through their bag. Another benefit is that since the information is in the smartphone, the risk of loss or personal information leakage is reduced.

If the Mirairo ID is used, only the necessary information from the certificate can be displayed, which saves the trouble of confirmation on the part of the business operator. It can also be presented smoothy from smartphones, so no one is searching through their bag. Another benefit is that since the information is in the smartphone, the risk of loss or personal information leakage is reduced.


Shortly after the launch of the app, I used a taxi in Tokyo and tried using the Mirairo ID myself. When paying for the fare, I nervously presented my Mirairo ID. The driver responded cheerfully, “Yes, confirmed!” I was impressed that I could use it like a bar code payment or a point card without any resistance or conflict which I had experienced when presenting the disability certificate. I still remember when my mother brought home the disability certificate for the first time and handed it to me crying. I think there was an immeasurable conflict of me being called a disabled person and being labeled. However, I think that if we can use it lightly as an app instead of a heavy label, psychological burden will be reduced for many with disabilities. From now on, I would like to create a society where both businesses and people with disabilities can communicate easily with “I have a Mirairo ID” without any conflict or burden. On March 13, 2021, it was decided to be introduced by 123 railway companies, and more than 1000 companies have introduced Mirairo ID. It is our hope that Mirairo ID will help create a future where everyone can go about freely.