"Our goal is to make Japan a society where the physically and mentally challenged become taxpayers," says Nami Takenaka, director of Prop Station. After giving birth to a daughter with severe disabilities, Takenaka had many chances to meet other "challenged" people, most whom wanted to be part of society, but were told they had no ability to work.

In 1992, Takenaka started Prop Station in Kobe. It has grown from holding computer seminars for the challenged, to producing CD-ROMs and holding the annual Challenged Japan Forum. In 1998, it became the first IT-related social welfare corporation recognized by the Ministry of Welfare. To establish a foundation for it, Naruke Makoto, then CEO of Microsoft Japan, set up a 100 million yen fund through Microsoft's "matching-gift" program, which helps employees contribute to society.

Prop Station teaches computer skills, accepts work orders from companies, and places orders with the challenged. More than 1,000 Prop Station seminar graduates now work at home doing jobs such as making AIBO's popup picture book and creating web sites for Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. and governmental organizations. Most job orders are placed not to try to help the challenged who live with their families, but because employers know the members do a great job. "When I meet administrators, I ask them to give a physically-challenged person a job worth 10,000 yen, instead of giving the same amount as a grant," says Takenaka. "We will train them to be part of a workforce which meets deadlines and maintains high quality. We prove that they, too, can do business and do it well."