Jay Kamibayashi

Growing up in Hawaii gave Jay Kamibayashi plenty of opportunities for outdoor activities, but he also grew up with something else. “I had no peripheral vision,” he says, “and night blindness, but I thought everyone couldn’t see at night.” His vision impairment remained undiag nosed for years. “When we went to the optometrist, they would only check for eyeglasses, not diseases.” It wasn’t until he was an adult that Kamibayashi was told he had retinitis pigmentosa and that he would eventually go blind. This shook the married father of twin daughters. “I was worried about the future,” he says. At the time, Kamibayashi was working as a printer. “When I was only a sophomore in high school,” he says, his mother – who worked for a printing company – “told me the company was looking for a janitor, so I started off as a janitor.” He eventually advanced to working the press.

Kamibayashi began shiatsu massage therapy for a back injury he sustained when he was about 30. He was already planning how he would make a living and support his family if his vision loss became too great – “I wanted to do everything to get ready” – so it got him thinking: “Hey, I think I can do this.” Kamibayashi attended the Honolulu College of Clinical Massage in 1994. He kept working full-time as a printer while developing his own clientele as a part-time massage therapist. However, his vision continued to deteriorate, and in 2003, he had to retire from printing because he could no longer see colors.

“When I couldn’t work, I went to the school for the blind called Ho‘opono [Services for the Blind],” he says. He enrolled in a one-year program where he learned braille, orientation and mobility, and life skills. Ho’opono also offered occupational assistance, so Kamibayashi returned to massage school to specialize in shiatsu massage. (He is also trained in techniques such as Swedish; deep tissue; reiki; and lomi lomi, a type of traditional Hawaiian massage.) Thanks to his years of both part-time and full-time massage work, “Most of my clients are regulars and have been coming to me for years,” he says. “They recommend me to others.” Today, he is known as the “Blind Shiatsu Guy” at the Healing Arts Center in Aiea, Hawaii, where he’s described as “calm and direct in his approach, and his sense of humor keeps his shiatsu sessions light.” Kamibayashi likes shiatsu because it can be done over clothes, without any lotions or oils, just using thumbs or elbows or forearms. “It’s deep pressure,” he says, “so you get good results.” The guide dog lifestyle Kamibayashi hadn’t thought about getting a guide dog until one of his regular massage clients – who was an O&M instructor – told him he would be a good candidate. He applied to Guide Dogs of Hawaii for a guide dog in 2011, but he was also offered the choice of training at guide dog schools in Australia or New Zealand.

He chose to train with his first guide dog from Guide Dogs Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii are classified as “rabies-free countries,” so his new guide dog did not have to be quarantined when they returned home. The two of them were together for nine years, until 2020 when the dog passed away. Hawaii changed its quarantine requirements for guide and service dogs in 2018, so Kamibayashi had a wider choice of guide dog schools when it came time for him to get a successor dog. He first learned about the Guide Dog Foundation on the “Eyes on Success” podcast. He liked that the Foundation was a midsize school, and that it had a good puppy raising program. Kamibayashi made the trip from Hawaii to New York in 2021 to train with his new guide dog, a yellow Labrador Retriever named Todd. “I was a little scared,” he admits. “I had never been to New York before.” But once he was here, he enjoyed the two-week class and interacting with his fellow students. “Everyone was friendly and got along well. We all had dogs before, so we were experienced handlers.” The Foundation had tempo - rarily suspended on-campus classes due to COVID, but by July 2021, we had resumed classes with certain health and safety precautions in place. Kamibayashi worked with guide dog mobility instruc tor Katie Samuels. “She was wonderful, so enthusiastic and high energy,” he says. “She was always encouraging.” Family life Although guide dogs are no longer subject to quarantine when entering Hawaii, there is still a great deal of paperwork when bringing a dog to the state. “The Foundation did everything for me,” Kamibayashi says. “When I landed, I went straight to [the animal qua rantine holding facility] with Todd.” He presented the forms by our consumer services office.

Officials gave Todd a brief visual inspection, and the two were free to go home and start their new life together. That includes going to work. Kamibayashi and Todd travel to his office by paratransit or the regular bus. “He goes right underneath the seat and stays away from people walking up and down the aisle.” At the office, Todd has his own special mat where he rests while Kamibayashi works on a client. Both of Kamibayashi’s daughters are optometrists, and he has a big extended family. When they get together, sometimes his brothers will play music and sing. Kamibayashi will occasionally join in, but most of the time, he laughs, “We’re in the garage because they play the music so loud.” Kamibayashi is a member of a guide dog support group that meets monthly to talk about different subjects and answer any questions for potential guide dog handlers. When they’re done, “we just let the dogs loose and they play with each other.” Having a guide dog has made a big impact on both his life and the life of his family, Kamibayashi says. “I have more confidence because my dog is guiding me, and I feel like I have a constant friend with me all the time. Todd enriches all our lives and brings out the best in all of us. We thank the Guide Dog Foundation for the blessing of this dog.”