Saitama Social Worker Reports Company for Overcharging Disabled Residents, is Sued for Stealing Documents

By Barrier Free Japan, extract from News.jp

March 2 2026

SAITAMA – Tomoyoshi Aoki (51) from Saitama Prefecture was sued for damages by the company where he had worked. Aoki, a certified social worker, changed jobs in 2024 and became a director at a company called “Nihon Remake” (based in Saitama City), which operates more than 10 group homes for people with disabilities.

According to Aoki, after some time he discovered that the company was overcharging residents for meal expenses and other costs, and was also fraudulently claiming public reimbursements. He clashed with the company over how to handle these issues. At the end of 2024, before resigning, he filed an internal whistleblower report with Saitama Prefecture as a “public interest disclosure.”

In 2025, Saitama Prefecture launched an investigation and instructed the company to:

1. Refund the overcharged amounts to residents; and
2. Return to municipalities the additional reimbursement payments it had received despite failing to meet required staffing standards.

The company, however, claims that Aoki took accounting documents without permission and encouraged employees to resign. Alleging that it suffered losses because it could no longer carry out its business as planned, the company filed a lawsuit in April 2025 with the Saitama District Court, seeking approximately 41.3 million yen in damages. The case is still ongoing.