“Unkai Sōten” (Beyond the Clouds, the Sky Clears)

Director’s Message 　　

Yuhei Kayukawa, M.D., Ph.D., April 2026

In recent years, I have increasingly heard, in the course of clinical consultations, the concerns of thoughtful individuals who fear that the reckless actions of nations such as Russia and the United States may ultimately lead to a third world war or even nuclear annihilation of humanity.

I first published a Director’s Message on our website in May 2015, upon opening Kayukawa Clinic. A full decade has now passed. During this time, many lives were lost amid the COVID-19 pandemic. I would like to express my deepest condolences to all who have passed.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in Wuhan, China in 2019, has continued for over six years without an official declaration of its end by the WHO. Although the spread of infection is subsiding, armed conflicts have only intensified—Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, U.S. involvement in Venezuela, and actions by the United States and Israel toward Iran, among others. Lawless and self-serving powers continue to threaten humanity. It is no exaggeration to say that many now fear the possibility of nuclear catastrophe.

History reminds us that even under the Weimar Constitution, the Nazis rose to power and shook the world. Today, Japan’s Constitution also faces the risk of being undermined by extreme political forces. We are entering an era in which life and health may be treated lightly, and many people feel deep anxiety and sorrow about this reality.

Amid such times in the mid-21st century, I myself—now well beyond the age of late-stage elderly—have faced difficult personal circumstances.

First, the relentless heat of recent summers has taken a toll, making me keenly aware of the decline in both physical and mental strength. Second, many of my contemporaries from the postwar generation have retired. Third, I lost my long-time mentor, from whom I had learned since my early career. This loss left me in a state of profound shock, as if time itself had momentarily stopped.

Aging, illness, and death are inevitable for all living beings. Yet as long as patients continue to seek care, I must find a way to continue practicing medicine. While I have often advised colleagues on closing their clinics, I had neglected to consider my own path.

At a time when I had become disheartened, unexpected support arrived in the form of two physicians: Dr. Yuriko Hayashi and Dr. Kazuhiko Kume, both board-certified specialists in sleep medicine. Dr. Hayashi now provides outpatient care on Tuesday evenings and Friday mornings. Dr. Kume, a molecular biologist with extensive clinical experience in sleep medicine, will begin seeing patients on Friday evenings on an alternating-week basis starting in April 2026.

A private clinic is, in many ways, like a small shop; without a successor, closure becomes inevitable. Even when children become physicians, they do not always inherit their parents’ practice. Like many small business owners, we face the challenge of succession. I have long considered how to ensure continuity of care without causing anxiety for our patients, yet I had no clear means to achieve this alone. I can only regard it as a great blessing to have encountered such trusted colleagues.

This is the reason I have written this message again for the first time in ten years.

During this period, our clinic has also advanced in medical capabilities. In addition to simple screening for sleep apnea, we are now able to conduct home-based polysomnography (PSG). Furthermore, with the cooperation of Suimin Inc., led by Mr. Masashi Yanagisawa, we have been performing continuous overnight sleep recordings using InSomnograf for over five years. These provide objective data—such as sleep efficiency and REM/NREM cycles—that many patients find both informative and reassuring.

The spring of 2026 feels, to me, like a season of renewal and restoration.