FOUNDER

人はもっと、
それぞれ特別だ。

Something never sat right with me, even as a child. Every person is so distinctly their own — so why is everyone measured on the same scale?
At twenty-two, I opened my home in Ebisu, Tokyo, to people I had never met. That was the beginning of Sonomanma-so.

Who he is

荒木 孝文

荒木孝文 / Takafumi Araki
ROOTS
Japanese-Korean. It all starts with a feeling carried since childhood: that people are far more singular than the world treats them.
2018–2022
Ran Sonomanma-so in Ebisu, Tokyo. Zero ad spend, word of mouth only — over a thousand people welcomed within about 22 months. Raised ¥30M in 2018 to run it as a proof of concept.
HR
A year inside the HR industry at a foreign-talent venture — seeing first-hand the gap a résumé can never close.
AI
An AI company in Silicon Valley (2023–24), then one in Japan (2024–), followed by nine months at the Matsuo Lab, University of Tokyo. Five AI awards, including the GMO Prize.
ARTS
Trained under a Noh master. Performed at Nijo Castle in Kyoto, and dedicated kagura at shrines.
NOW
Left his job in March 2026 to commit full-time to KIBOU, eight years in the making. He also serves as AI advisor to several companies — from century-old Japanese institutions to a Forbes 100 firm.
MEDIA
Passed with unanimous approval on 10-Oku-En Kaigi (AbemaTV × The Nippon Foundation, 2019). Appeared on TV Tokyo's Ie, Tsuite Itte Ii Desu ka? (2025).

The 10-Oku-En Kaigi story, in his own words.Read on note

Follow Takafumi

Founding team

シリコンバレーの2人で、
つくっています。

Two people build KIBOU. Both of us are based in Silicon Valley. What happened at one house in Ebisu, we're now carrying out into the world — from Japan and the US at once.

荒木 孝文

Founder

The one who opened his Ebisu home to strangers in 2018 and welcomed over a thousand people to Sonomanma-so. At KIBOU he builds the network of hosts and companies — and the business itself. After taking courses including the LLM course offered by the Matsuo Lab, University of Tokyo, he is now working from the Bay Area.

Chaos

Co-founder & AI Engineer

PhD in Statistics. An engineer at AI companies in the Bay Area before joining KIBOU as co-founder. He builds how hosts and members come on board — and this site itself. He met Takafumi over social media while traveling in Japan, and simply stayed.

This team, too, began with a chance meeting — just as we are.

Sonomanma-so archive

そのまんま荘の記録

It began in 2018, at one house in Ebisu. The articles and posts from those days are still out there. Here they are, exactly as they were.

KIBOU is Sonomanma-so, updated. What happened at one house in Ebisu, turned into a system any home can run. The name changed; what we do hasn't.

What happened inside that house is in the journal.A thousand people came to one house in Ebisu.

日本でのインタビュー

日本で、KIBOUについて話しました。

暮らし、出会い、そして PLAY THE SPACE BEFORE YOU STAY。日本で受けたインタビューをどうぞ。

Canvaで動画を見る

YouTube

AIの車で、人間に会いに行く。

Short videos from a journey across America in a self-driving Tesla, going to meet people — the same question KIBOU asks, from the road.

More on the channel.Watch on YouTube

People don't fit on one scale.

That feeling has been with me since childhood. So I set out to build places where each person shines exactly as they are. KIBOU is what came next.

東京から始まったことを、
世界中へ。

What happened at one doorway in Ebisu, multiplied across Japan and across the world. Start with one click.

Coming soon