Profile
Basic Information
- Name:
Kazuaki Kawada - Date of Birth:
April 18, 1963 - Place of Birth:
Osaka, Japan — later lived in Hiroshima and Nagoya, and moved to Yurigaoka during high school. - Hobbies:
Watching films, collecting tokusatsu (special-effects) hero figures, and traveling. - Background:
After graduating from Waseda University, Kawada gained experience in accounting practice. Following a period of personal physical and mental strain, he studied chiropractic from the fundamentals at a specialized academy. After years of hands-on clinical training at an affiliated salon, he opened Yurigaoka Chiropractic in 2011.
Childhood – The Beginning of Quiet Courage
Forming the Roots of Who I Am
I was born in Osaka and spent my early years moving from city to city — Hiroshima, Nagoya, and finally Yurigaoka — following my father’s job transfers. Though I changed schools many times, I never felt lost or out of place. At every new school, I naturally made friends and quickly became part of the circle. Despite the constant relocations, I was fortunate to always be surrounded by kind friends.
Looking back, three qualities have been consistent throughout my childhood:
- Not shy around people
I could easily start conversations and make friends, even on my first day in a new place. - A strong sense of justice
I couldn’t stand by and watch unfairness or bullying. I was the type to say, “That’s not right.” - Honest with my feelings
If I wanted to see my kindergarten teacher, I would go to visit her alone, simply because I felt like it.
These may seem like small moments, but together they formed the foundation of who I am. To step into new environments, to connect with people, to speak up against injustice, and to act in harmony with my heart — these qualities continue to flow quietly at the root of my being even now.
Student & Early Career – Encounter with Trials
When Challenges Became Lessons
During my university years, while many of my classmates were focused on job hunting, I couldn’t find a path that truly felt like my own. Rather than taking a job for the sake of stability, I decided to carve out my own way and began studying for a national qualification.
By day I worked to pay for tuition and living expenses, and by night I attended a vocational school. There were days when exhaustion nearly pushed me to collapse over my desk, yet I kept listening to lectures and tackling exam questions. My performance reached an A grade — just one step away from success — but in the end, I could not overcome the final barrier to pass.
After that, I entered the field of accounting. Surrounded by numbers and documents, the work carried both tension and a sense of fulfillment. However, unexpected trials awaited me at each assignment. Working under different supervisors, I faced unfair treatment and, at times, verbal abuse that slowly wore down my spirit.
Eventually, my health deteriorated and I fell into depression. There were mornings I couldn’t rise from bed, and days when I found myself frozen before the station gates, unable to take another step. I began to ask myself again and again: “Can I really continue living like this?”
It was during this period that I came to understand, through direct experience, how deeply the mind affects the body. When the heart weakens, the body falters — and when the body suffers, the heart sinks further still. That vicious cycle became the turning point that would one day lead me to a completely new path.
Encounter with Chiropractic – Mind and Body Are Connected
Where the Mind and Body Began to Speak as One
After reaching my physical and mental limits in my early career, I realized that something had to change. I chose to start over — to reexamine both mind and body from their foundations. That decision led me to enroll in a chiropractic academy, marking the beginning of a demanding dual life: working at the school’s affiliated salon during the day, and studying at the academy each night.
The discipline there was strict. Talking or dozing off during lectures was strictly prohibited, and any violation meant immediate expulsion. Even after exhausting days at work, I had to attend evening classes with full focus. I fought drowsiness, took meticulous notes, and reviewed what I couldn’t understand until it made sense.
In daily clinical practice, I faced real clients — listening to their voices and responding with care. What I learned at night in anatomy and pathology, I tested the next day on site; what I experienced in the salon, I reflected upon in theory that evening. Through this ongoing exchange, knowledge and practice began to interlock, and my understanding deepened steadily.
Through that process, one truth became clear to me: the mind and body are inseparable. It isn’t merely about aligning muscles or bones — the state of the heart manifests in the body, and changes in the body, in turn, influence the heart. With each session I witnessed this truth firsthand, and it became the very core of my therapeutic philosophy.
Decision for Independence – The Beginning of Challenges
Where Conviction Took Form
After completing my chiropractic studies and gaining clinical experience at the academy’s affiliated salon, I gradually began to feel a growing sense of conflict. While the work itself was deeply rewarding and full of valuable experience, I often found myself questioning the organization’s management policies and personnel decisions.
One incident that remains vivid in my memory was the unfairness within the staff hierarchy. Married employees were given priority for promotion, while those who were single — like myself — were consistently passed over. Realizing that my future was being shaped by standards unrelated to effort or ability, I began to think, “Continuing here won’t lead me to the way of working I truly believe in.”
There was an option to become the director of one of the affiliated clinics, but I knew that as long as I couldn’t make the final decisions myself, I could never fully face each client with genuine responsibility. Eventually, I resolved to create my own place — a space where I could work under my own principles and take full accountability for every action I made.
In 2011, I opened Yurigaoka Chiropractic in Yurigaoka.
With the help of my mother and my own savings, I secured the funds, entrusted the interior and signage to professionals, and prepared step by step.
Even during the preparation stage, passersby would stop, notice, and express curiosity about the new space.
On opening day, local residents came holding flyers in hand — a warm beginning embraced by the community.
Thus, I finally established a place where my ideals and responsibilities could take shape. From that moment, the true challenge — the one that belongs solely to me — had begun.
The Figure Room – A Haven of Safety
Where Comfort Meets Playfulness
When I first opened Yurigaoka Chiropractic, the many figures displayed in the clinic were not part of any plan. In truth, I simply moved them from my home to protect them — my Shiba Inu had a habit of treating my collection as his toys. That small, practical decision unexpectedly gave birth to something meaningful.
New visitors are often surprised at first: “Why are there so many figures in a clinic?” Yet that surprise soon turns into smiles and conversation, easing their tension. In a space that might otherwise feel sterile or intimidating, being surrounded by these figures helps people relax naturally.
The figures are not mere decorations or hobbies. They have become gentle catalysts that help visitors open their hearts. This touch of the extraordinary softens the seriousness often associated with clinics, creating a sense of safety and comfort for everyone who steps inside.
Even now, I love the moments when clients look at a figure before their session and say with a smile, “Oh, I remember this one!” That smile lightens their hearts and prepares them to receive care. Through these moments, the clinic has become more than just a place to realign the body — it has grown into a quiet sanctuary, a secret base of comfort for all who come here.
Reunion with Ultraman – Returning to the Hero’s Origin
Where the Hero Within Was Awakened Again
When we were children, each of us carried a hero within our hearts. Those figures of courage — different for everyone — gave us strength and pushed us forward in our earliest dreams.
For me, that hero was Ultraman. As a boy, I would sit in front of the TV, completely captivated. He wasn’t just a fantasy figure — he was a symbol that set my heart ablaze.
Years passed, and around the year 2000, just before opening my clinic, I encountered a lifelike Ultraman figure. In that instant, something deep inside me ignited. Memories of childhood came rushing back, and my heart was seized with a vivid, almost electric emotion. Before I knew it, nostalgia had turned into passion — I found myself collecting one figure after another.
It wasn’t mere sentimentality; it was a rekindling of spirit. The flame that had been reignited didn’t fade — it grew, filling the room with energy and life. That passion eventually became what visitors now see: the countless figures that fill Yurigaoka Chiropractic.
Looking back, I realized that Ultraman’s appeal goes far beyond the simple battle between good and evil. Every monster has a reason for its rampage, and even the aliens who arrive on Earth have their own necessity. Ultraman doesn’t fight indiscriminately — sometimes he relocates a creature to a place where it can live peacefully, and sometimes he seeks dialogue instead of destruction. His story carries a deep message of coexistence rather than conquest.
The sculptor Toru Narita, who created Ultraman, once described him as “a symbol of restoring cosmos — order — from chaos.” When I learned that, I felt a strong resonance with my own life journey: from the chaos of my working years, through the struggle to rebuild myself, toward a renewed sense of order. In that journey, Ultraman stood as a mirror — a companion in rediscovery.
For everyone, the hero of childhood still lives somewhere in memory. But for me, that hero returned to life through reunion — no longer just a memory, but a living reminder. Ultraman awakened the part of me that once dared to dream, and gave me the strength to step forward once again.
Beyond Borders – Resonance to the World
Where Shared Feelings Transcend Language
Looking back on my life, I realize I have been connected to different cultures since childhood. I attended English classes taught by foreign instructors, and even when my words were clumsy, I discovered that gestures and expressions could still convey feelings. From an early age, I learned that even when languages differ, hearts can still communicate.
In university, I continued studying English so I could watch movies without subtitles, and during my travels, I enjoyed sharing Japanese culture with people I met abroad. Over time, foreign cultures became not something “special,” but simply a natural part of my daily life.
Later, as an adult, my hobby of collecting figures expanded these connections even further. Through social media, I met people who loved Ultraman and tokusatsu just as I did — including many fans overseas. Through our conversations, some even said, “I’d love to meet you if I visit Japan,” or, “I want to experience your chiropractic treatment someday.”
Today, some of those people truly do visit Yurigaoka Chiropractic from overseas. When they tell me “Thank you” with a bright smile after feeling their bodies become lighter, nationality and cultural differences lose all meaning.
From my childhood experiences, to my university studies, and now to global connections through figures — each stage has naturally led to where my clinic stands today. Chiropractic care is a universal experience, and Ultraman too is loved across borders. Here, the two meet — and through that intersection, the journey I’ve taken beyond borders finds its tangible form.
Present Thoughts – The Power to Fly Again
A Quiet Space to Regain Strength
Years have passed since I opened Yurigaoka Chiropractic. What I have cherished from the very beginning is that this place should be more than a clinic that simply realigns the body. While skills and knowledge are essential, what I value most is creating a space where people can feel safe enough to release themselves completely.
The figures displayed throughout the clinic are symbols of that idea. Originally moved here to protect them from my Shiba Inu at home, they now play an important role — sparking conversation, easing tension, and helping visitors relax both body and mind. From surprise and nostalgia comes a smile, and that smile naturally becomes the first step toward healing.
In my sessions, I also place great importance on staying free from convention. Every person’s body is unique, and every symptom expresses itself differently. Rather than following a manual, I choose the techniques that feel necessary in that very moment. That flexibility — responding to the individual before me — is, I believe, the truest path to relief.
Yurigaoka Chiropractic is not a place that seeks attention or grandeur. It is, instead, a quiet refuge where one can return to oneself. A space where people can step away from the noise of everyday life and allow their hearts and bodies to come back into harmony. My hope is that the time spent here becomes a gentle rest — a moment to regain the strength to take flight once again.
That this place continues to exist as a haven of safety — a quiet “secret base” for anyone in need — is the wish I now hold most deeply as a chiropractor.
Epilogue – Awakening the Self Who Was Once a Hero
Where Every Person’s Inner Hero Awakes
As a child, I watched Ultraman with fascination. Later, as an adult, I experienced the chaos of working life — and through study and reflection, I found my way back to a sense of order. Now, I spend my days meeting people through the space of my chiropractic clinic.
Looking back, I realize that the image of the hero has always been with me at each turning point in life. Ultraman’s philosophy — restoring order from chaos — is not merely a story to me, but a guiding principle for how to live.
Whenever I stand before the treatment table, one thought always arises within me: “There is a hero within this person, too.”
It might be the hero they once admired as a child, or perhaps the part of themselves that once stood tall and brave — the self who was a hero in their own way. Whatever form it takes, my role as a chiropractor is to help awaken that inner light.
Yurigaoka Chiropractic is more than a place for physical alignment. It is a place that transcends norms and borders — a space where anyone can reconnect with the hero that resides within.
And so today, I once again take my place before the treatment table — to witness the moment when you, too, rise and take flight once more.