Mimiyomi, Japan’s first narration office for the visually impaired

Work as a narrator is difficult for visually impaired people, even if they had the talent. There are several hurdles they have to overcome. However, three sisters—Yukari Aramaki, Kotone Chen and Taki Miyagi—who have blind parents, stood up to these challenges by establishing Mimiyomi, Japan’s first narration office for the visually impaired. Mimiyomi serves as a bridge between visually impaired narrators and companies who want to create audio content.

Until now, there were several difficulties for visually impaired narrators to play an active role in narration work. Firstly, they had to overcome the challenge of confirming how to read their scripts. Especially with some Japanese kanji, there are different ways of reading them. For example, words like “色紙” can be read as “irogami (colorful paper)” or “shikishi (sheet for autographs).” Similarly, bullet points like “①” can be read as “ichi (one)” or “maruichi (one with a circle)”.

Voice editing was another hurdle too. Lip noise and background ambiance need to be erased or adjusted. Other hurdles included creating invoices, sending audio files, joining a narration office and publicizing their work.

Mimiyomi takes care of all these tasks so that visually impaired narrators can focus only on their work. Narrators can earn money by simply recording their narration and readings at home and delivering them online. The office also provides free online lessons for inexperienced narrators, regardless of their area, age and environment.

The three sisters have a deep understanding of the needs of people with disabilities. They also believe in the potential of visually impaired people, thus taking on the challenge of creating a society in which these people can play an active role. Through Mimiyomi, they strive to make a difference so that more visually impaired people can shine!