Toshiya Kakiuchi

In 2014, he was listed as one of Japan’s 100 Most Influential People by Nikkei Business Publications Inc. He has used a wheelchair since childhood, and until establishing Mirairo competed in wheelchair racing and wheelchair basketball events.

In 2013, he was awarded the Grand Prix at the Minna no Yume business awards (Everyone’s Dream Awards), sponsored by Nippon Broadcasting System, Inc. At this time, he gave a presentation to an audience of 8,000 people at the Budokan Hall in Tokyo. He refused the twenty million yen cash prize for the Grand Prix award, stating that "What we need is not two million yen but rather job opportunities that will allow us to create two million yen’s worth of value." In the same month, April 2013, he announced that he would temporarily suspend his business activities in order to undergo an operation. He did not recover well from the surgery, and fell into a coma three days later following a cardiac arrest. Following several months of rehabilitation, he returned to work. In August 2013, he announced a business partnership with Dentsu, Inc. in the field of Universal Design.

In 2010, he used prize money that he had won at business plan contests to set up Mirairo, Inc. At the time he established Mirairo, he was almost unable to eat and subsisted mainly on soy milk. At the time of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011, he was involved in the relief work, sending wheelchairs to those in need. He collaborated with the manga artist Takehiko Inoue, engaging in activities with a worldwide scope.

In 2008, he entered the College of Business Administration at Ritsumeikan University. In the second year of his studies, he established a company with a classmate, and received 13 awards in business plan contests run by public institutions, newspapers, and other organizations.

He entered Nakatsugawa High School in Gifu Prefecture in 2004, but dropped out in order to pursue a rehabilitation program for his medical condition. He later obtained the Certificate for Students Achieving the Proficiency Level of Upper Secondary School Graduates (the former University Entrance Qualification Examination) that allowed him to take university entrance exams in Japan.

Toshiya Kakuchi (born April 14, 1989) is a Japanese businessman. He is the founder and president of Mirairo Incorporated. He is also the president of the Japan Universal Manners Association, which provides education and certification in universally applicable manners, with a particular focus on manners regarding persons with disabilities and the elderly.

Kakiuchi was born in Anjou, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, in 1989. From his early childhood until he entered university he lived in Nakatsugawa, Gifu Prefecture. He began suffering multiple bone fractures from an early age due to the bone condition [osteogenesis imperfecta], and has undergone more than fifteen corrective operations.