We help people see, and we keep watch over the machines that help them.
The Kiroshi Foundation has paid for eye care, vision research and the safety of optical implants since 1978. In the year to March, that meant 61,240 cataract operations, eye tests for 1,482,906 people and help for 11,870 people whose implants their makers had stopped supporting.
- 1Cornea
- 2Iris
- 3Lens
- 4Vitreous humour
- 5Retina
- 6Fovea
- 7Optic nerve
- 8Implant interface, where fitted
The year in figures
- spent on charitable work
- ¥24.3bn
- about US$160 million
- cataract operations
- 61,240
- 78.4% with a good outcome
- people screened by Mieru
- 1.48m
- 74,113 pairs of spectacles
- reports to the Implant Register
- 27,416
- from nine makers’ devices
FY2025, 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026. Audited figures from the annual report.How we measure outcomes
Six programmes, one organ
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Sight restoration視力回復
Cataract surgery, corneal transplants and retinal implants for people who could not otherwise pay, through 41 partner hospitals in nine countries.
61,240cataract operations funded in FY2025
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Mieru vision screening見える
Eye tests for schoolchildren and older people where they already are, with free spectacles the same month. Mieru means “can see”.
1,482,906people screened in FY2025
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Implant safety安全
The Independent Implant Register, which records harm from optical implants of every make, and fourteen free aftercare clinics.
27,416reports to the Register in FY2025
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Continuity継続
Help for people whose implants their makers no longer support: repairs, firmware kept safe in escrow, and a fund for replacements.
11,870people with discontinued implants helped
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Living with low vision暮らし
Rehabilitation, mobility training, braille and magnification for people whose sight cannot be restored, and work with employers who will hire them.
9,320people in rehabilitation programmes
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Shared Sight共視
A way for implant wearers to donate anonymised vision data to research on low vision, under rules set by a data ethics board.
68,402wearers donating data
A story from our programmes
“I thought the board was meant to be blank”
Mitu sat at the front of her class for four years and copied her lessons from the girl beside her. Then a teacher she already knew held up a chart of broken rings.
Open calls
We fund through open calls, assessed by panels on which our own staff are a minority. We never charge a fee.
| Call | For | Amount | Closes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Implant aftercare clinics, 2027 round | Clinics and hospitals offering free aftercare to wearers of any make of optical implant | Up to ¥60 million over three years | |
| Research grants in visual science, 2027 | Researchers at universities and public institutes in any country | ¥10 million to ¥40 million over up to three years | |
| Kiroshi Fellowships, 2027 to 2028 cohort | Eye surgeons and low vision specialists in low- and middle-income countries | A year’s salary, travel and training | |
| Continuity small grants | Groups repairing or documenting implants their makers no longer support | Up to ¥8 million | Rolling |
Our stake in Kiroshi Opticals
23.8%
of Kiroshi Opticals K.K. is owned by the Foundation, making us its largest shareholder. Its dividends paid for 81% of our work last year.
Kiroshi Opticals makes cybernetic eyes, retinal implants and intraocular lenses, among other things. Some of what we fund uses its products, and some of what we fund exists because of them. We think you should know that before you read anything else we publish, so we say it here.
We do not take instructions from the company. Since 2023 it has submitted its perception models for independent evaluation by Frothly’s Blackwall programme, at our request.
Research and open standards
The Chiba Centre for Visual Science studies how people see, and how devices see on their behalf. The open standards we publish are free to implement, and written so that an implant made by anyone can be serviced by anyone.
Since 2021 we have been research partners of Frothly, the independent institute that runs the Turing Registry.
- KF-OS 1Implant service interfaceVersion 2.1, 2023
- KF-OS 2Bystander privacy for optical implantsVersion 1.0, 2024
- KF-OS 3Private provenance for ocular captureDraft for comment until 15 January 2027