About the Author: My name is Kakeru Furukawa and I’m a student at Hiroshima University, Japan, where I study linguistics, phonetics, and phonology, with research focused on stuttering. I was a Grand Prize winner at Japan’s “DREAM” Round-the-World Contest with a presentation theme called: “A Hero with a Stutter from Egypt”. The prize was a round-the-world airline ticket. The trip is now planned between Nov 2026 and Oct 2027. My goal is to learn more about stuttering around the world.

This November, I will set off on a trip around the world. But this is not just a trip. It is a journey to meet people who stutter, their families, speech-language pathologists, and stuttering researchers around the world. I will also visit stuttering communities, self-help groups, and conferences across the globe. Across countries, languages, and cultures, stuttering takes many forms—and so do the ways people understand and live with it.

This is a round-the-world trip of PWS, by PWS, for PWS.

I am a person who stutters. My stuttering became much more severe when I started university. I could not speak on the phone. When a teacher called on me in class, I could not answer. At restaurants, I sometimes ordered something that was easier to say instead of the food I actually wanted. I wanted to study abroad and took online English lessons, but even during those lessons, I often could not speak. Speaking always felt frightening, and I hated it.

Then, somehow, I became close friends with someone from Egypt. He invited me to Egypt, where I studied for five months. Perhaps because there were not many East Asian people around, strangers in Egypt spoke to me every day. I could not speak Arabic, so we communicated in English instead. This turned out to be one of the best things that had ever happened to me.

Many of the Egyptians who spoke with me were not fluent in English either. They spoke slowly and used simple words. Because of my stuttering, I often needed more time to say what I wanted to say. But I made sure to communicate clearly what I truly wanted to say.

Neither of us expected perfect English. We spoke slowly, used simple words, and met each other halfway. For the first time, I felt that conversation did not have to be fast or fluent to create a real connection.

I had never experienced anything like this before—not with people who did not stutter, even in my own language, and not with the English teachers I had studied with. Talking with people in Egypt was genuinely fun. My fear of speaking faded. My confidence grew, speaking became easier, and even my stuttering became less severe.

Stuttering has had many shades in my life. At university, it was the fear, frustration, and words I could not say. In Egypt, it became a reason to value each word and a bridge that connected me with other people. It brought me friendships, confidence, and this journey—things I never expected to gain from stuttering. My stuttering is not only one shade, and through this trip, I hope to discover the many shades of stuttering experienced by people around the world.

After returning to Japan, I entered a contest called DREAM. In this contest, participants present their dreams and travel plans, and the grand prize is a round-the-world plane ticket. Inspired by my experience in Egypt, I gave a presentation about my dream of meeting people who stutter around the world.

It was not easy. On some days, although the presentation time limit was six minutes, I could speak for only three. But I did not give up. I practiced again and again, refusing to give up on the words I wanted to share. I believed that if I could face this challenge, I could give courage to people who stutter around the world. In the end, I won the grand prize and received a round-the-world plane ticket.

Thank you for reading my story. Now, I have a request for you.

This November, I will begin my journey around the world. If you would like to meet me, or if you know a person, group, researcher, or conference I should visit, please leave a comment with their name and country. For example:

• People who stutter
• Families of people who stutter
• Speech-language pathologists
• Stuttering researchers
• Stuttering communities
• Stuttering self-help groups
• Stuttering associations and conferences

Anything related to stuttering is welcome.

I believe this journey can give courage to even one more person who stutters, uncover even one more piece of the mystery of stuttering, and help even one more person learn about it.

Let’s build this round-the-world trip—of PWS, by PWS, for PWS—together!