Takeki Shinkawa / 新川丈暉

Kanagawa / UTokyo / Dubai / Startup

From Fujisawa, Kanagawa. On a leave of absence from humanities stream II at the University of Tokyo. I worked at Dubai Research Institute for about a year from spring 2025, and then started a company in Dubai. I launched Mifto, a C2C car rental service for the Middle East (an "Airbnb for cars"), and as of June 2026 I am based in Dubai.

Full background / Works

What I am working on now

Mifto — a C2C car rental service for the Middle East

Mifto, which I am building in Dubai, is a peer-to-peer (C2C) car rental platform — an "Airbnb for cars." While large services already exist in North America and Europe, there is still no major player in the Middle East.

Building a business based in Dubai

Based in Dubai, I am building my business while engaging with the mobility market and startup community in the Middle East.

Memorable books, manga, and films

I liked the Gaku Monogatari series by Makoto Shiina, which I borrowed from my mother.

I also liked Keigo Higashino's Galileo books and works by Atsuya Higashikawa, and I remember reading The Perfect Insider by Hiroshi Mori when I was still in elementary school.

For manga, I have read SLAM DUNK, Black Jack, Space Brothers, NARUTO, DEATH NOTE, Bakuman, Hikaru no Go, and Gaku.

For films, I often end up liking movies with Leonardo DiCaprio, such as Catch Me If You Can and The Wolf of Wall Street, and I also like Interstellar. On the Japanese side, I broadly like Studio Ghibli films.

People I respect

Elon Musk / Peter Thiel / Mark Zuckerberg / Shohei Ohtani / Rui Hachimura / ONE OK ROCK

Countries, cities, and regions I have visited

  • - Indonesia (Bali)
  • - Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Malacca)
  • - Brunei
  • - South Korea (Seoul)
  • - UAE (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah)
  • - Sri Lanka
  • - Philippines (Cebu)
  • - China (Qingdao)
  • - Saudi Arabia (Jeddah)
  • - United States (New York, San Francisco)
  • - Oman (Muscat)
  • - Singapore

Countries, cities, and regions I want to visit

  • - Central Asia
  • - South America
  • - Eastern Europe including the Balkans
  • - Russia
  • - United States (Austin)
  • - Australia (Adelaide, Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne)
  • - Saudi Arabia (Riyadh)
  • - United Kingdom
  • - Portugal
  • - Spain
  • - China (Shanghai, Beijing)
  • - Hong Kong