Anger and Anxiety Over Kizuna Holdings’ Exploitation of People with Disabilities, Former Employee Speaks

Extract from The Sankei Shimbun

June 21 2026

OSAKA – In March, it was revealed that four facilities operated under Osaka-based welfare company Kizuna Holdings (HD) had received excessive payments of subsidies intended for employment support services for people with disabilities. The city determined that the total amount of improperly received funds reached 15 billion yen, but the future course of the case remains unclear, as Kizuna HD has challenged the administrative sanctions in court. All of the facilities that were sanctioned have since closed, leaving their users without support and increasingly anxious about what lies ahead.

“How am I supposed to make a living from now on? More than anger toward the company, what I feel is anxiety.” With these words, a 40-year-old Osaka man who had been using one of Kizuna HD’s facilities lowered his shoulders in discouragement.

The man had attended the facility for about four years, working on tasks such as video editing. In an industry where many workers are employed at only the minimum wage, he had been earning an unusually favorable hourly wage of 1,600 yen.

“I thought we were doing work that generated that level of revenue,” he recalled.