Interview with Shingo Takano (videographer and writer)

https://moov.ooo/article/645a1b0692174f167ab055b4

The following is the text on YouTube video

What is the possibility of “a strange person” or “Inoh β“and the person with severe disability Mr. Ono shows.

※note by Barrier Free College of Liberal Arts

(=the extraordinary ability; Japanese ‘inoh’＆ βsounds “innovator”)　

No Limits although Bedridden

Mr. Ono complete the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' Inohβ program, after skipping a grade.

He cannot move his body freely.  He has been unable to breathe by himself, speak or eat for the past four years.  It is a neurological disease, but the cause is unknown and there is no cure.   Since he can access the internet, I conducted  an email interview.

Q: How do you feel about being qualified as “Inohβ”?

Ono: I'm happy to have been recognized, and I'm also happy to have skipped a grade and completed the program.  However, there are some areas where I feel that my abilities are not enough, so I would like to acquire the appropriate abilities as “Inoh β.”

Q: What have you been interested in so far?

Ono: Entrepreneurship, innovation and disabilities.  Every day, I feel that there are absurd problems to be solved in the disability field.  I want to work on solving them.

Q: What do you think about your potential?

Ono: Some people say they would rather die than prolong their lives, and some do choose death.  But they should think about it more and know it better.  Even if you become bedridden, you can do anything these days if the environment is properly prepared.  I would be happy if I could be the model for that.

Details of the Interview (No video) 

One of the challenges posed by AI (artificial intelligence), such as ChatGPT, is "What is the things only humans do?" AI can create the "correct answer" by combining information from the internet.  On the other hand, only humans can have the idea, jumping diagonally upward without context.  The era of “strange people'' who can think outside of the mold and framework has arrived. This is also the reason why I am paying attention to Katsuki Ono (27).

Qualified as “Inohβ” Skipping a Grade 

Mr Ono was qualified as “Inohβ”  in the program supported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.  This program "supports unconventional and ambitious technological challenges with great potential to generate values and creations of even disruptive and global scale in the ICT field."  To put it simply, They are looking for a "strange person."

Mr. Ono was nominated on “the Category of Disruptive Challengers'' in 2022.  His theme is “a job project for people with disabilities that focuses on jobs that are predicted to emerge in the future metaverse.''  It usually takes one year to reach the goal.  Accumulating results steadily, Mr. Ono  skipped a grade and was promoted to “Inohβ” in six months.

If you check the list of  “Inohβ’s” on the website of Innovation Program, you'll see persons who are leading our era.  On Ono's left is media artist Yoichi Ochiai.  Others include Fumi Muraki, a chemist and inventor, and Marina Fujiwara, known for her “waste-making'' approach.

Humble Despite his Ability

I conducted an email interview with Mr. Ono.  First, we asked him how he fells becoming a “Inohβ”.

Ono; The judges were all famous persons, so I'm happy that I was recognized.  I'm also happy that I skipped a grade, with only a small number of nominees.  However, there are Inohβare all amazing people.   I can't simply compare with each one, but I feel that I'm short of ability in some areas, so I'd like to improve skills further. 

Mr. Ono has won prizes in contests such as business contests since he was a student at Waseda University's Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies.  I asked him to send me a list of his progress so far to make this video.  During his junior high school days, he said, “I became good at studying and was ranked in my school and in Japan as well, so I was looked up to.''   I felt, from the email exchange, he is innately smart.　He found his specialty early on and steadily improved his skills, and as a result, he was qualified as “Inoh β.”  There's no way he is lacking in ability.  But still  he is determined to improve further. That attitude is nothing but promising.

Interested in “Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Disability”

Next, I asked, “What have you been interested in so far?''

"Entrepreneurship, innovation, and disability.  I want to solve problems in the disability field, and I think entrepreneurship and innovation are the best way to do that.  Rather than political means such as social movements, starting a business can definitely solve the problems at hand more quickly.  Also, if the business scales up and becomes an innovation that changes society, it will be an innovation which will hardly fall back.  Every day, I feel that there are absurd problems to be solved in the disability field.  I want to work on solving them."

A Model for Thinking Choice of Life

My final question was, “What do you think about your own potential?  Thoughtful answer came back to me.

“Some people say they would rather die than prolong their lives, and some do choose death.  But they should think about it more and know it better.  It was after I received life-sustaining measures such as a tracheotomy that I won the business contest and also graduated from Waseda's graduate school.   Even if you become bedridden, you can do anything these days if the environment is properly prepared.   I wrote a thesis in graduate school, worked, started a business, joined a new community, and made new friends.  I would be happy if I could be the model for people considering the choice of life.

Holding Four “Impossibles””

Mr. Ono is fighting a congenital neurological disease.  He spent his middle and high school years on an electric wheelchair.  He gradually lost the ability to write and began having trouble in breathing.  During his time at Waseda University, he lost the ability to operate his electric wheelchair.  He entered Waseda University’s graduate school in April 2018, but it became difficult for him to breathe on his own and he underwent tracheostomy surgery in 2019. During his one-year leave of absence, he spent his time reading Aozora Bunko, a site that collects works whose copyrights have expired. 

Mr. Ono simply describes the “severity of his disability'' as follows:

“Unable to operate electric wheelchair, difficult to maintain sitting position, unable to write, unable to breathe, unable to speak.”

Four "impossible" and one "difficult" are lined up.  It is true that there are many things he cannot do, and nursing care is required to carry out daily life.

Workin as a Business Advisor

However, as he said in an interview, there are many things Mr. Ono can do in this age of the   internet.  Mr. Ono's work is not limited to “Inohβ” activities.  Currently, he was contracted to Gaiax as a freelancer and is in charge of research.  He mainly collects information on startup companies and writes articles about it.  He is also an entrepreneurial advisor for medical startups since December 2022.  He is also involved in various communities one of which made the relationship between him and me.  There is no problem with appearing in media like this using email interviews.

Mr. Ono, a “strange person,'' will continue to use his “Inoh”（＝extraordinary ability）and  open up a future.  What he does for people with disabilities will eventually spread to people without disabilities.   I look forward to seeing his success in the future.

Image of  SNS  

Ono Katsuki@Katsuki_O_H

Fighting neurological disease like ASL, cause unknown.  Freelancer (research mainly on start-up companies), bedridden with tracheostomy prolonging life.  Interested in social problems, enterprise.  Verifying the employment of people with disabilitie．Addicted to AI art.

Shinjyuku-ku, Tokyo, facebook.com/katuki.hirai birthday Dec.15. using Twitter since Oct. 2011.