09-07-2025
Free English conversation videos teach in short bursts
Kaho Fujikawa, founder of Logiglish Inc., holds a smartphone showing a scene from 'English Learning Manga 'Kyoko'' at the Osaka Metropolitan University's Umeda campus in the city's Kita Ward on May 9. (Yasuji Nagai)
OSAKA—A university startup company is uploading free, short English-learning videos daily, hoping to help locals communicate more easily with the many foreign visitors here for the Osaka Kansai Expo 2025.
The startup, Logiglish Inc., was founded in February 2023 by Kaho Fujikawa, 23, when she was a sophomore at Osaka City University.
That university later merged with Osaka Prefecture University to form Osaka Metropolitan University, where Fujikawa is now a graduate student in the business management program.
The company's name is a combination of the words 'English' and 'logic,' a quality essential for language learning.
Logiglish is the first startup certified and supported by the university.
The short video series, titled 'English Learning Manga 'Kyoko,'' began streaming in April, the same month the Osaka Expo opened.
Most episodes are just 30 to 50 seconds long.
The story centers around Kyoko, who wants to be a photographer and lives in New York with her father. She makes a solo trip to Kyoto, where she has memories of her mother.
Conversational expressions such as 'Now I am heading to Kyoto' and 'Do I know you?' are featured in each episode.
The video series also includes a miniseries: 'Takoyaki Santo Monogatari' (A tale of three cities of 'takoyaki'), which explains in English and Japanese the differences between three types of takoyaki octopus dumplings.
Real shops, restaurants and other locations are featured in the series.
Logiglish's main business is providing custom-made English learning programs to help people say exactly what they want to say.
The company offers 15-part courses customized for each student to learn English vocabulary and phrases required in their field, such as marketing or development, and uses business documents and related publications as study materials.
The company uses artificial intelligence to design the study programs and aims to provide AI-automated learning guidance in the future.
Fujikawa, who attended Kobe University-affiliated institutions from kindergarten to high school, was fascinated by debates in English..
She won third place at a national debate tournament for high school students even though she had not studied overseas for an extended period.
She also came in first at a national, university-level competition.
While she was honing her English debate skills, she found it useful to consider how to explain concepts in English, rather than just learning words and phrases by rote.
Fujikawa decided to found the company after attending a lecture by Atsushi Sakahara, 58, a film director and writer, who serves as a part-time instructor at the university.
Sakahara, who taught economics in English, had been involved in developing learning programs in Silicon Valley using AI and speech recognition technologies.
He decided to co-found Logiglish with Fujikawa because he supported her idea for developing a new English learning program.
'I want to help increase opportunities for people in this city to communicate with visitors from all over during the (Osaka) Kansai Expo, which is a rare opportunity,' Fujikawa said.
The short video series is available at (
