In 1988, our Founder and CEO Daichi Sakamato endured a freak accident that resulted in the amputation of both hands.
Unable to continue his work as an accountant, he shifted efforts into the only work he could fathom doing with no hands: dance.
We carry on that proud tradition today. Making the entire world dance—one beat at a time.
Sapporo, JP
The Beginning
1947
Daichi Sakamoto was a precocious child. Knowing exactly which career he wanted at the age of 5, he started studying numbers very early on.
His passion laid in accounting. By the age of 12, he was already able to file his parents taxes.
By 16, he was commuting to Tokyo to apprentice at the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau.
And by age 20, already graduated with an advanced degree in accounting, he had set up his own accounting practice.
Tokyo, JP
The Accident
1998
At this phase of his career, Sakamoto’s practice was flourishing. During this time, he was known for his aggressive work hard / play hard approach in his work life.
He’d regularly sleep at the office, work 16 hour days, and rally his team for team building events at night.
It was during one of these team building events that disaster struck: an ill fated excursion to team build at a woodworking studio went wrong and Sakamoto lost both hands to the saw that night.
Some say he’d been too busy counting the blades on the saw to realize how close his own hands were inching towards the spinning blades.
NYC
A New Challenge
2002
What happens when your life purpose is cruelly ripped from your hands? What happens when your hands themselves are cruelly ripped from your body?
Sakamoto had all the questions and all the time to answer them. Though no longer able to work day to day, he’d sold his accounting practice and left extremely financially independent.
With his newfound time and fortune, he searched far and wide for answers. From the Himalayan mountains to the plains of Africa. From the quiet of Walden Pond to the cacophony of the streets of New York City.
It was in the streets of New York City where he reached an epiphany.
As he watched a handless street musician play bucket drums with drumsticks duct taped to his forearms, Sakamoto’s thoughts flashed back to the early times of his practice:
“I remember those early times when I’d work late into the night with my Sony MDR-V6 headphones on. Bobbing my head and drumming my fingers against my desk as Daft Punk blasted through the cans. Those nights when the music echoed throughout my skull and I lost track of time and work as the beat rode on and on and on.
The question isn’t who am I without my hands… the question is who am I with what’s left?
My hands are gone but my body still exists.”
He knew he may never work in accounting again, but music was really just counting numbers with your body. And Sakamoto loved counting numbers.
He knew what he’d do for the rest of his career.
LA
A Lasting Legacy
2018
Daichi Sakamoto worked tirelessly to provide the world more reasons to dance. In 2018, exactly 30 years after the accident that changed the trajectory of his life, he retired to allow the next generation to take the reigns.
We continue our Founder’s legacy. Providing the world with more reasons to DANCE day by day, based on the belief that:
Life, itself, is a dance performed decade by decade. beat by beat.
