Former Disability Care Facility Employee Compares ‘Megumi’ to a Pyramid Scheme

From Livedoor

October 26 2026

TOKYO – The following is an excerpt from, and an adaptation of, the book Disability Welfare as a Business: Taxes and Service Users Being Exploited, which exposes the company ‘Megumi’ negligent practices.

“We’ll look after them until the very end!”

April 3, 2023. Tokyo was enjoying fine weather, and the cherry blossoms had almost completely fallen.

Shinsuke Kurokawa (a pseudonym), who lived in the northern Kanto region, stood in front of an eight-storey building near Keio University, a short walk from Tamachi Station on the JR Yamanote Line. He entered through the automatic doors and took the lift to the sixth floor. By the time the session began at 9 a.m., around 30 people had gathered in a conference room.

It was a staff training session organised by Megumi Co., a company operating disability group homes in various parts of Japan. The session was intended for home managers.

Kurokawa, who had worked in social welfare for more than a decade and was in his mid-30s, had found the company through a recruitment website and had only joined on April 1. He had been appointed manager of a group home in northern Kanto and had come to attend the training.

Two company executives sat at the front of the conference room, and the session began. They explained the duties of managers and the company’s rules. But as Kurokawa listened, his sense that something was wrong grew increasingly strong.

“Make sure you focus on achieving a 100 percent occupancy rate. Increasing occupancy is the top priority. The only way to do that is through sales.”

“The important thing is to fill every bed. If the home is full, we can pay the staff’s salaries, and our own salaries will increase too.”

The other participants diligently took notes as the two executives spoke.

Is this what a private company is supposed to be like? Kurokawa wondered, bewildered. Until then, he had worked for social welfare corporations and similar organisations.

The executives instructed participants to make sure they used the following phrase when promoting the homes to prospective clients:

“We’ll look after them until the very end!”

They were also made to practise sales pitches. Turning to the person beside him, Kurokawa exchanged greetings such as, “My name is Kurokawa. Nice to meet you!” and “We’ll look after them until the very end!”

This atmosphere feels a bit like a pyramid scheme, he thought.

He began to worry that there was something seriously wrong with the company.