This post is sponsored by BridgeMAIT, but all opinions and experiences shared are my own. The quotes below are Yoshio Suzuki-san’s own words, from a written interview in August 2026.
In July I sent a list of interview questions to a taxi operator in Yokohama and expected a page of vehicle specs back. What came back was a story about amateur motor racing and a night at a hospital emergency entrance. Somewhere in the middle of it there was a piece of calligraphy his wife writes for every guest.
Yoshio Suzuki runs BridgeMAIT, a one-man accessible taxi service. One HiAce with a lift, one Noah with a ramp, and 36 years of working in English before he ever drove a paying passenger. Here are a few parts of our conversation. The rest is on the site.
A defining night at the hospital
Suzuki-san holds a patient-transport operator certification from the City of Yokohama. That is the piece of paper behind the story he tells when asked why he does this.
A guest fell seriously ill during their stay. Late that evening Suzuki-san was standing at a hospital emergency entrance explaining to staff, in English and Japanese, who this patient was and what they needed.
“I watched the staff’s expression change: first ‘who is this driver?’, then, slowly, something like trust. The patient was accepted, and treated well. What stays with me is what the guest’s family said afterward. They had been so afraid of exactly this, getting sick in a country where they couldn’t explain themselves. For a traveler, that fear is often bigger than the trip itself.”
He does not drop people at a hospital and leave. He stays on as the English-speaking advocate in the room, which is the part of this service that is hardest to buy anywhere else.
What racing taught him about a wheelchair van
He raced as an amateur for years. When he set up the HiAce for wheelchair passengers, he rebuilt the suspension the way you would on a track car, because the person in the chair sits right over the rear axle and feels every bump before anyone else does.
“These are upgrades you would normally find on an enthusiast’s car. I did them so that a two-hour drive to Hakone leaves my guests relaxed, not exhausted. Racing taught me one thing above all: smoothness is a skill. On a track, smooth is fast. In this work, smooth is comfort.”
The secret about airport transfers
I had filed the airport and cruise pier runs under logistics. He disagrees.
“But let me tell you a secret about the transfers, because people think of them as mere logistics. They are not, not on my routes. Leaving Osanbashi pier for Haneda or Narita, we cross the Yokohama Bay Bridge, the very bridge in the BridgeMAIT logo. I named my company after a bridge, and I get to drive my guests across the real one, over the whole port of Yokohama opening up below. And coming from the airports toward Yokohama, or heading out toward Hakkeijima in the late afternoon, there is a moment on the expressway when Mt. Fuji appears against the evening sky. My guests often assume the sightseeing starts after they check in to the hotel. On this coast, it starts the moment the wheels roll.”
Two weeks ago he took a couple from Italy on his Fuji and Hakone day. They left a public Google review afterwards:
“As a wheelchair user, I especially appreciated the perfect accessibility: the accessible van, the careful planning, and their constant help made everything smooth, comfortable, and stress-free.”
Davide and Claudia, in their public Google review of BridgeMAIT
There is a lot more in the full interview. Why “BridgeMAIT” is not the pun I assumed it was. What a stretcher is doing in a taxi, and why it usually isn’t. Why he plans two complete itineraries for every tour. What his wife writes for each guest, and what that has to do with a difficult period in his life. And the one thing he says to anyone unsure whether Japan is possible for them.
Would you like to hire Suzuki-san for a transfer or a day out? His vehicle specs and fares are on his listing on Accessible Japan, and the inquiry form there goes straight to him. Click here to inquire. He answers every message himself.
Josh