From formative experiences to founding and beyond
A "portable grave" born from the loss of a beloved dog. A gravestone inscribed "Unknown" on Maui. A ¥7M loan from parents and all personal savings invested. These formative experiences in 2025 led to the founding of TokiStorage in February 2026, under the mission of "Democratizing Proof of Existence." The business is built on two pillars: three-layer distributed preservation of voice, images, and text for 1,000 years, and the voice QR tool TokiQR.
| Can loss and responsibility coexist? | Compounding losses while serving as HOA president — workplace reassignment, a relative's death, losing a beloved dog, organizational dissolution through workplace restructuring, loss of employment, parents withdrawing financial support, a financial incident, collapse of the foundation of daily life, disappointment from all around. What you take on amid collapse — is it obligation, or will? What was chosen through it all was a commitment to solving social issues and the pursuit of happiness for all, beyond the boundaries of time |
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| How do you preserve the ones you love? | A question born from the premonition of losing family and pets |
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| How do you prove the life of someone unnamed? | An interest in proving the existence of people history will not remember |
| When infrastructure fails, how do people connect? | Means of connection during disasters, blackouts, and communication breakdowns |
| What medium lasts 1,000 years? | The fragility of digital and the permanence of paper, stone, and voice |
| Where does an immigrant's soul return to? | Proof of existence and identity across borders |
| Can proof of existence be democratized? | A system of verification independent of notaries and lawyers |
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| Can voice fit inside a QR code? | Ultra-low bitrate voice encoding with Codec2 |
| Should technology be opened or enclosed? | Withdrawing from patent filing — a philosophical decision |
| How do you design trust? | Institutional trust through National Diet Library deposit and non-profit structure |
| What is the value of articulating a philosophy? | Externalizing thought through 179 essays |
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| Can mutual aid be sustained? | A model linking community disaster preparedness and collaboration |
| Can a gift economy work? | Economic sustainability of a proof-of-existence service that asks for nothing in return |
Living with pets · Intergenerational bonds · Community ties
| 2007 | Pearl, the beloved family dog, began life at the wife's family home |
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| 2019 | Takuya and Mina married |
| 2020 | Relocated from Yoyogi, Shibuya to Bunkyo, Tokyo. Began living together with Pearl as a family |
| Daughter Ito born | |
| 2021 | Relocated from Bunkyo, Tokyo to Urayasu, Chiba (Timeless Town Shin-Urayasu, Quon Garden Shin-Urayasu) |
| 2023 | Family stay on Oahu, Hawaii. Drove around the island, moved by encounters with sea turtles and rainbows |
| Devastating wildfire in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii — the entire town lost | |
| As a resident of Urayasu — itself a liquefaction and disaster-affected area — began reflecting on how to support Lahaina's recovery | |
| 2024 | Appointed HOA president at Timeless Town Shin-Urayasu to drive community DX, managing operations for approximately 250 households |
| Reassigned to a different department at employer | |
| A relative's passing led to ancestral rites at the family temple in his father's hometown, where neglected gravestones left a lasting impression | |
| 2025 | Pearl passed away. Created a "portable grave" — the prototype of proof of existence |
| Invented voice QR. Published an open-source prototype capable of encoding and playing up to 2 seconds of voice, hosted on a free platform | |
| Discovered gravestones of direct ancestral lineage on Maui, and the family resolved to spend half the year on Maui tending them | |
| Participated in a lantern floating ceremony at Lahaina Jodo Mission. Confronted a gravestone inscribed "Unknown" | |
| After explaining circumstances to employer, decided to end the employment contract due to incompatibility with company regulations | |
| Visited spots around Urayasu as an opportunity for inner reflection. At Kame Park, encountered a seashell monument and a monument to the collective self-sacrifice of relinquishing fishing rights | |
| Visited major sacred sites (Iao Valley, Haleakala, Kukuipuka), Eastern and Western gravesites across the entire island of Maui | |
| Returned to Japan and invested all personal savings to accelerate R&D | |
| Invented a disaster recovery support method centered on off-grid infrastructure. Car camping validation at Lake Yamanaka, satellite communication testing at Fuji 5th Station, visited Sengen Shrine | |
| Invented a method to overcome gravestone record lifespan limits through voice QR engraving on quartz glass. Conducted material degradation testing using a silkie chicken enclosure | |
| For a relative's first memorial anniversary, used the engraving techniques cultivated through this work to create and present a commemorative gift with a family crest engraved on basalt | |
| Expanded disaster recovery volunteering. Registered on Workaway and provided off-grid support to farms on the east and west sides of the island. Established family-ready off-grid living environments within 3 days at each site using self-supplied equipment. Hosted by Melanie at a Hana farm on the east side | |
| As a gift economy initiative, distributed nearly 300 locally handmade soaps to Wailuku Halloween party, resort hotels, Olowalu camp, aquarium, restaurants, and others | |
| Unable to rent a car at the airport due to a financial incident. The Randall family — third-generation Japanese Americans met at a Bon Dance — rented a car on their behalf, securing transportation | |
| Consulted a nearby hotel resort about sewage issues at the trailer house used during east-side support. Napili Kai Beach Resort generously opened a hospitality room | |
| Borrowed ¥7M from parents, followed by suspension of their support | |
| During Christmas, sought help at a church in Kapalua when daughter fell ill. Met Mr. Martin, a second-generation Japanese American, and received his care — including arranging accommodation, procuring food, and purchasing early education materials for their daughter | |
| Accompanied Mr. Martin to the only church in Lahaina that survived the wildfire, and signed expense settlements for shelter, meals, and related costs | |
| Mr. Martin asked for help interring his mother's ashes (Japanese, passed away three years prior) in Japan — promised to do everything possible |
| Jan | Immediately after returning to Japan, began gravestone surveys. Surveyed over 5,000 gravestones on foot in Gunma Prefecture while sleeping in a car |
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| Through coordination with multiple government offices, discovered that a military service certificate and power of attorney could enable obtaining a family register extract to contact relatives. Received a message of gratitude from Mr. Martin | |
| Visited Ise Grand Shrine, NPO Iga no Tomo (Mr. Ueda), Mount Hiei, and Japanese Emigrant Museums in Hiroshima and Yamaguchi. Established regular support sessions with Mr. Ueda through a mutual cooperation agreement | |
| Returned home to Urayasu. Through an introduction from the museum director, visited Shibuya Ward (Hawaii sister city liaison) and JICA Yokohama | |
| Short stay on Sado Island to survey distributed preservation sites | |
| Faced ongoing funding depletion | |
| Handmade Pearl Soap distributed to all 250 HOA households. Summarized HOA DX achievements and gratitude to residents on a web page accessible via QR code — a final embodiment of DX | |
| To secure travel costs for Mr. Martin's ash interment and repay debts from investing all personal savings into R&D, resolved to launch as a business | |
| Began building a landing page through vibe coding |
| Feb 11 | Filed sole proprietorship registration (Ichikawa Tax Office). Blue return tax filing registered |
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| Feb 14 | First commit. Development of voice QR application began |
| Feb 16 | Rebranded to "TokiQR." Applied for deposit with the National Diet Library |
| Feb 17 | Achieved voice quality improvement, overcame playback time limits, image quality/resolution limits, and text storage capacity limits |
| Feb 21 | Considered patent filing but declined based on philosophical conviction |
| Feb 25 | Built commercial infrastructure (order forms, Wise payment integration, compliance pages) |
| Feb 26 | Wedding partnership initiated |
| Essay collection reached 179 articles | |
| Launched monitor program | |
| Revisited Iga, Mie. Explored traditional crafts and local shops, distributing over 30 Pearl Soaps to those encountered along the way, seeking ways to carry on heritage | |
| Met Toshihisa Doi, representative of Live Foods (general incorporated association), who endorsed the mission and began collaborative activities | |
| Agreed with Mr. Ueda on planning and producing original soap for sale. Returned to Urayasu to launch the project and begin original soap sample production | |
| Attended a Urayasu City fire brigade music event with daughter. Wrote an essay on public events and record preservation, and sent a letter to the Mayor of Urayasu and over 30 other municipal leaders | |
| Government-grade information guides established (6 new pages: copyright, accessibility, etc.) |
| ① Collect | Retirement benefit claims |
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| Tax return filing (refund) | |
| Grant applications | |
| ② Settle | Self-storage consolidation (4 locations) |
| Disposal at clean center | |
| Complete remaining HOA president duties (general assembly, subsidy settlement) | |
| Dissolution and liquidation of Digital Wheel LLC and Universal Need Inc. — consolidation into TokiStorage | |
| Car repair or replacement with new vehicle | |
| ③ Sell | Sale of Urayasu property (for debt repayment and relocation funding) |
| Debt restructuring from sale proceeds (overdue mortgage and car loan payments, clearing outstanding bills, credit card loan repayment — approx. ¥25M) | |
| ④ Earn | AI and cloud adoption support |
| Original soap sample production | |
| Distribute brochures to wedding venues | |
| Networking with early morning seminar participants | |
| ⑤ Move | Family relocation to Iga, Mie — settling in (daily life and education) |
| Expand joint venture with Live Foods (Mr. Doi) | |
| Plan Workaway program in Iga, Mie | |
| Revisit Shibuya Ward (Hawaii sister city) and JICA Yokohama | |
| Contact emigrant museums in Hiroshima and Yamaguchi — progress update and schedule coordination | |
| Progress update to Melanie | |
| Welcome and host the Randall family on their visit to Japan | |
| Broaden and deepen dialogue with municipal leaders | |
| Complete Mr. Martin's mother's ash interment in Japan |
| ① Business | Expand partnerships (ceremonies and memorial services) |
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| Commercialize and expand original soap line | |
| Register original soap as a Furusato Nozei (hometown tax) return gift | |
| Open original soap retail store and product display | |
| Host and expand soap-making workshops | |
| Scale AI and cloud adoption support | |
| Enhance TokiQR accessibility (support for persons requiring assistance, etc.) | |
| TokiQR P2P support | |
| Military service certificates | |
| ② Preserve | Full-scale distributed preservation operations |
| Sado Island site development | |
| Expand distributed storage regions — Tahiti survey | |
| ③ Heritage | Scale the Japanese immigrant soul repatriation project |
| Collect primary sources on Japanese immigrants and provide to emigrant museums | |
| Nationwide gravestone surveys and museum partnerships across Japan | |
| Return to Maui — on-site development | |
| Expand across the Hawaiian Islands | |
| Develop a comprehensive framework for Japanese immigrant cultural heritage | |
| ④ Community | Expand Workaway host network |
| Off-grid support | |
| Intergenerational conflict resolution | |
| Develop SDGs partners as Workaway collaborators | |
| ⑤ Outreach | Essay writing |
| Internet radio | |
| Social media |