Barrier Free

Tojisha-Kenkyu

Kumagaya Laboratory
MaterialProfessor

Shinichiro KUMAGAYA
Research Area
Pediatrics, Tojisha-kenkyu

Chemical Biomedicine

Project Professor

Soichi NOGUCHI
Project Associate Professor

Satsuki AYAYABarrier Free

Project Research Associate

Noriko KATSUYA

Project Research Associate

Akiko MATSUO

Social Science

Project Research Associate

Masaki TSUJITA

Laboratory forInterdiciplinary Activities

ColumnI was born with a disability called cerebral palsy
and live my life using an electric wheelchair.

Cooperative Laboratories

Furthermore, tojisha-kenkyu has been utilized as a method to realize teams andorganizations where diverse people can achieve high performance through mutual
understanding and collaboration in companies, universities, support offices for people
with disabilities, penal institutions, and so on. Our laboratory has conducted researchin companies, disability support offices, and central government ministries and foundthat leaders with accurate self-knowledge increase the psychological safety of theirteams, resulting in improved performance, work engagement, and mental health, aswell as reduced discrimination. Currently, we are using tojisha-kenkyu as anintervention program to foster leaders' self-knowledge and are examining itseffectiveness.
Thus, tojisha-kenkyu is a unique activity that has three aspects: a method ofself-help, a method of research, and a method of organizational change.

Information

Tojisha-kenkyu is gaining attention not only as a method of self-help, but also as a
research method that produces new knowledge. In fact, tojisha-kenkyu was born outof the need to create new knowledge for those who want to understand andcommunicate their own experiences, but lack the concepts and phrases to express
them. Since 2015, our laboratory has been working with experts in philosophy, socialscience, medicine, engineering, and other fields to devise new concepts and phrases
for unspecified experiences, to test hypotheses proposed in tojisha-kenkyu, and todevelop support methods for latent needs that have emerged through tojisha-kenkyu.

Environment and Energy

Tojisha-kenkyu (self-directed study) is a new research activity that began in Japan in
2001. It is a research method developed to help people with mental health conditions
who had been in psychiatric hospitals for a long period of time cope with thedifficulties they faced in their lives in the community after being discharged from thehospitals. Since then, the research has expanded to include not only mental healthconditions, but also addicts, neurodivergents, people with chronic pain, transgender,and other minorities as a method of self-help. More recently, tojisha-kenkyu has
begun to be conducted among people who identify themselves as the majority, suchas the difficulties of the child-rearing generation, hikikomoori (shut-ins), and medical
professionals.

After working as a pediatric clinician, I began
my research activities with the theme ofparticipatory research. Participatory research,which starts from the experiences and needs ofvarious individuals, is filled with surprise, hope,Social Cooperation
Research Departments

and humor as it establishes interdisciplinaryresearch.

Corporate SponsoredResearch Programs
Research Organization

https://touken.org/
kumashinbfp.rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Kumagaya Lab125