Background: The conceptualization of personal recovery began in Europe and North America and has spread worldwide. The concept of personal recovery and recovery-promoting factors may be influenced by culture. We explored how users of mental health services in Japan perceive their own personal recovery and the factors that promote it.Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews with individuals using mental health services. The interview data underwent thematic analysis, and we adopted a grouped framework analysis approach. We used a coding framework based on the existing CHIME framework (connectedness, hope and optimism about the future, identity, meaning in life, and empowerment). We counted the number of narratives for each element of the framework.Results: Data were obtained from 30 users of mental health services (mean age: 40.4 years; 46.7% women; 50.0% with schizophrenia). “Compassion for others” was newly extracted in “Connectedness”, and “Rebuilding/redefining identity not being as shaped by social norms” was newly extracted in “Identity” as personal recovery. “Positive experiences in childhood” (including positive parenting support from neighbours) was newly extracted as a recovery-promoting factor. Connectedness was most frequently coded in our study.Conclusions: Our unique findings of the rebuilding/defining identity free from conformity to social norms through communications with relatively familiar people including peers may be culture dependent. This study raises overarching questions regarding how socio-cultural values influence the development of identity and personal values and how they are in turn reflected in personal recovery.