{"id":18087,"date":"2026-03-13T17:00:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T08:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovation-osaka.jp\/oih2026\/?post_type=library&p=18087"},"modified":"2026-09-27T16:28:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T07:28:14","slug":"library-15222","status":"publish","type":"library","link":"https:\/\/www.innovation-osaka.jp\/en\/library\/library-15222\/","title":{"rendered":"Yuuki Oka"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Digireha Inc. (Digireha) develops and provides digital tools for use in rehabilitation, developmental support, and education.<\/strong> It has developed about 35 apps so far. We spoke with CEO Yuuki Oka, who says the company\u2019s strength is a versatility that lets its tools be used across facility types, including hospitals and other medical institutions, special needs schools, and day services for children with disabilities, about its current activities and future plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Freely usable to suit each person\u2019s characteristics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Digireha is a rehabilitation tool that uses digital art and sensors. Each app has approachable artistry and pleasant interactions, and is designed to naturally draw out users\u2019 motivation: the feeling of \u201cI want to try this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our development concept is \u201cLook at the one person in front of you, and keep the world\u2019s 2.4 billion people in view (*1).\u201d While many apps are divided by target facility, such as schools or hospitals, or by target users, such as specific disabilities or conditions, our strength is that our tools don\u2019t limit the users or facility types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*1 Reference: WHO (World Health Organization) Rehabilitation (Fact sheets)<\/a> “Globally, an estimated 2.4 billion people are currently living with a health condition that may benefit from rehabilitation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Digireha<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Body movements are detected by five types of sensors: web cameras, eye-tracking sensors, microphones, wearable sensors, and LiDAR sensors (which measure distance using reflected infrared light). The tools can serve a wide range of people regardless of the degree of disability, from people with severe disabilities to highly active children with developmental disabilities and older adults who use wheelchairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The apps have customization features anyone can easily set up. For example, in an app where users enjoy touching and moving objects, the timing of movement can be set in seconds to suit the degree and nature of the disability. Moving objects at just the right timing for each person gives them a stronger sense that \u201cI made it move.\u201d We believe true value lies in such small details, and we research every day how to raise users\u2019 motivation.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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*Click an image to view it larger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A major strength of Digireha\u2019s tools is that combining various sensors with app customization allows free use tailored to individual needs. There are currently 35 apps, used at about 270 facilities, schools, and medical institutions across Japan.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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Proactive motivation, \u201cI want to try this,\u201d is what creates change<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In my twenties, I became interested in welfare through experiences such as illness in my family, and in 2008 I founded a nonprofit organization with the theme of \u201centertainment \u00d7 healthcare and welfare.\u201d By bringing music, art, games, and more into healthcare and welfare, fields with a rather rigid image, I aimed to let everyone take part in society while having fun, whether or not they have disabilities or illnesses. Having spent my early childhood and school years in the United States, surrounded by diverse entertainment, may have influenced this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then one day, I saw a friend\u2019s child, who has a disability, crying while receiving rehabilitation. \u201cCouldn\u2019t I make an app that lets this child enjoy rehabilitation?\u201d That strong feeling was what led me to start the Digireha business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, when the app was completed, I launched the business in earnest. After that, while increasing the number of products, I built out the platform, and in 2021 we made a fresh start as a corporation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No matter how beneficial something is, people don\u2019t willingly do things that are boring or painful. That\u2019s true not only for children but also for adults and older people. Rehabilitation received in such a state rarely produces results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is proactive motivation, \u201cThis is fun\u201d and \u201cI want to try this,\u201d that draws out a person\u2019s true potential. Digital art has that power.
With that conviction, we\u2019ve gone out into the field as much as possible, seen users with our own eyes, listened to people on site saying things like \u201cWe want an app like this\u201d or \u201cIt would be great if we could customize it this way,\u201d and used their input in development together with our team, including physical therapists and occupational therapists. Our progress is the accumulation of responding to those users and those voices, one by one.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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Toward \u201cwhole-person rehabilitation\u201d in the truest sense<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Besides developing apps, we now also hold follow-up courses on using the tools effectively and run a business introducing therapists skilled with the apps to facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going forward, we want to focus on fully entering the elderly care industry. Our subsidiary in Silicon Valley, set up as a base for overseas expansion, also plans to begin full-scale sales to local facilities and medical institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word \u201crehabilitation\u201d comes from the idea of \u201cbecoming fit again.\u201d In Japanese, it is expressed as \u201cwhole-person rehabilitation,\u201d in other words, regaining the right to live as a human being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the number of facilities, schools, and medical institutions using Digireha grows further, to a thousand or ten thousand times today\u2019s scale, what we can achieve will expand even more. We may be able to change the systems themselves, such as institutions and communities and the employment and working styles of people with disabilities. That is the \u201cwhole-person rehabilitation\u201d in the truest sense that we aim for. To make it a reality, we\u2019ll keep expanding our business while carefully responding to voices from the field.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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How We Used OIH<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At \u201cTech Osaka Summit 2025<\/a>\u201d, we won the Grand Prix in its English pitch contest, \u201cTech Osaka Award 2025<\/a>\u201d. In Japan, there aren\u2019t many contests where everything from the pitch to the Q&A can be done in English, and I got the impression that the Tech Osaka Award will become a gateway for people who are serious about expanding overseas. As a way of giving back to Osaka Prefecture, we used part of the prize money to provide Digireha equipment free of charge to three facilities in the prefecture, including child development support centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Digireha<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Digireha
Won the Grand Prix at Tech Osaka Award 2025
<\/span>and received prize money.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Interview date: February 4, 2026
(Interview and text: Aya Iwamura)<\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15256,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"https:\/\/www.innovation-osaka.jp\/oih2026\/?post_type=library&p=15222","catch_copy":"The motivation to say \u201cI want to try!\u201d makes rehabilitation and developmental support more effective","company":"Digireha Inc.","sub_catch":"A tool for rehabilitation and developmental support through play with digital art"},"library-category":[181,201,164],"class_list":["post-18087","library","type-library","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","library-category-iot","library-category-tech-osaka-summit","library-category-healthcare","en-US"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innovation-osaka.jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library\/18087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innovation-osaka.jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innovation-osaka.jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/library"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innovation-osaka.jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innovation-osaka.jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"library-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innovation-osaka.jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library-category?post=18087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}