NARA -- "Spring will come," the surgeon who amputated his left arm told Daiki Nakabayashi. Holding onto those words, the 47-year-old continues to work in the kitchen as both chef and owner of his restaurant in western Japan.

In his 20s, Nakabayashi accidentally stabbed his left hand while trying to swat away a fly buzzing around the kitchen with a knife while working at a Western-style restaurant in his hometown of Kitakyushu in Fukuoka Prefecture. He treated the wound with adhesive tape, but four months later intense pain began shooting through his arm, and he repeatedly lost consciousness and lost control of his bladder.

He was diagnosed with reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a condition in which chronic pain develops after an injury, and spent a year bedridden. While visiting hospitals, he met the late Yuji Inada, a doctor in the city of Nara who specialized in peripheral nerves. The doctor proposed amputating his left arm.

Nakabayashi lost his left arm at age 29 after two surgeries. He cried when he found himself in a world without pain upon waking up from the surgery. He recalled thinking, "I wanted to repay him (Inada) for freeing me from the pain." He decided to move to Nara, where the doctor practiced. In 2011, Nakabayashi opened the Western-style restaurant "Yoshoku Haru," where "haru" means "spring" in English, in the old downtown district of Naramachi.

In the kitchen, the 47-year-old skillfully prepares signature dishes such as fried shrimp and hamburger steak, even using the upper part of his amputated left arm while cooking. Nakabayashi's dishes, which bring out the natural flavor of the ingredients without using salt or pepper, have earned a strong reputation. He opened a second restaurant in the city of Kyoto this April. Going forward, he also plans to focus on hiring people with disabilities.

Nakabayashi told the Mainichi Shimbun, "I want people who are struggling because they think they can't work due to a disability to know that it's going to be OK." In place of the doctor who has passed away, Nakabayashi continues delivering hope, like the coming of spring.

(Japanese original by Yuichi Nakagawa, Photo and Video Department)