- Please introduce yourself.
I'm Arai, the owner of ARIA Corporation in Osaka. Our main business is running "study cafes" in Umeda and Honmachi, which add an element of community to study rooms.
- How did you start the Study Cafe?
Originally, I was working as a sales representative at a pharmaceutical company, but there was a time when I used cafes as a place to study about pharmaceutical knowledge. At that time, I looked around and saw people studying in the same way. I was realized that if I could create a café where people could study, I could help people who were also in need of a place to study. In addition, I thought it would be more interesting if there was an opportunity for the highly motivated people who attend the school to get to know each other, and I decided to start my own business based on the assumption that this is what I am actually doing now.
When I did some research, I found someone who had already started a business with the exact same idea, Mr. Yamamura of Bookmarks Inc. I ask him if I could join the team.
In 2014, I became independent and started my own company to run a study café in Osaka. That's how it all started.
- What are the features of the "Study Cafe" service?
Study rooms were supposed to be silent with desks and chairs. However, the study café dares to play music, allowing students to concentrate on their studies in a relaxed café mood. Most of the people who gather there are working adults, but we support the creation of a community among them. Through regular social gatherings, there is an opportunity to get to know study buddies, and there are opportunities to output what you have learned by holding study sessions.
A comfortable study environment is a prerequisite, and this is a place for adults who value learning to come into contact with many like-minded adults.
Expanding Greatly by Adding Community
The Value of Studying to Match the Times
- Please tell us what you think of the phrase, "Make your life more fun by studying. "
What kind of image do you have of studying? Does it sound pretty formal?
I believe that studying is the greatest opportunity to make life more enjoyable, and it really is. When you study, you first expand your various perspectives. From there, you can talk about more topics and get to know many people. Also, people who study with ambition tend to get along with each other, even though they are from different genres. In other words, you can increase your number of encounters based on your ambition. I think encounters are one of the most enjoyable aspects of life. Moreover, it has a positive impact on your work, and studying is full of opportunities to make your life more enjoyable in the future.
So, I want to change the image of studying. I want to tell people from the Study Cafe that studying is a way to make life more fun.
- I can feel the homey atmosphere of the staff and the comfort of the users, and I wonder if that is something that will affect the outcome of the study
In fact, there are times when I hear people say that the café is a good opportunity for them to study hard. In a self-study room, you just study and go home, but in a study café, there are staff members and communication naturally occurs.
In addition to communicating with our members, we also get in touch with them and introduce them to each other. We believe that this is where new connections are made, which in itself is stimulating and leads to learning. This is a unique opportunity to meet people of different generations and occupations through learning without any conflicts of interest.
- So the community is there to support not only studies, but also learning of "speed reading" "English" and "love"
The name "Study Cafe" often leads people to think that it is a place for students to use, but in reality, we are creating a service for adults, for working people. Learning for adults does not mean that someone else decides what you learn. On the contrary, it is a freedom. It is based on a person's intellectual aspirations. For example, if a person wants to be able to read a book faster, acquiring knowledge about this is learning for that person.
We would also like to suggest that there are various kinds of learning. If you think of "love" as communication, it is a great way to learn. We do not want to get caught up in the general image of the student days, when we were crunching away at our desks. We would like to create a space where learning can be fun, life can be fulfilling, and the people who gather there can connect and learn from each other.
The Website Is an Essential Part of the Service
TCD Has Helped Me a Lot
- Thank you for using TCD. Please tell us how you came to know about TCD.
I've been using a free blog service for a while, but I've started to take it seriously. When I was looking for a good theme for Wordpress, one of the staff at Study Cafe was an expert in Wordpress, and he recommended TCD to me.
- What is the good thing about using TCD?
First, the design is good. There are a variety of themes to choose from depending on your needs and your image. The manual is easy to understand, and the editing screen is well-designed and easy to use. And what helped me the most was that the support staff took great care of me when I didn't know how to use the theme. Sometimes I had to ask for help that seemed a little difficult, but I really appreciated the way the staff took care of me every time. Thanks to them, I was able to understand the structure myself while being taught.
- What is the role of a website for Study Cafe?
Unlike most cafes, 90% of the people who come to Study Cafes for the first time come from the Internet. Therefore, the role of the website is the entrance to the study café experience, and this impression determines whether people will actually come to see the café. It also displays information about events, not only for newcomers, but also for existing visitors, who will visit the site many times during the course of the service. Therefore, we believe that the website is also a part of the study café.
- Lastly, may I ask about the prospects for the Study Café?
The entire study café is based on the theme "LEARNING NEVER ENDS. There are people who continue to learn and enjoy learning even after they become adults. We aim to become the first choice and the most appropriate place for such people to gather, and to create a learning infrastructure that will take root in Japanese society.
However, study cafe is not well known, and we would like to promote the value of it so that as many people as possible will know about it.
編集後記
In order to convey the idea of "Study Cafe", they used OOPS!. I was very impressed by the phrase "the website is part of the Study Cafe". We hope that TCD will continue to be a powerful tool for Study Cafes. I will be watching the future development of Study Cafes, which provide opportunities for people of all ages and professions to meet through learning.
ARIA INC.
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