Published

恵比寿の一軒に、
1,000人が来た。

The short answer: Sonomanma-so grew through word of mouth and repeat visitors. This record keeps the 830 visitors documented in May 2020 separate from the later account of more than 1,000.

Sonomanma-so began in Ebisu, Tokyo, in April 2018. It was one ordinary house with an entrance, a table, and a bath. Students arriving in Tokyo for job hunting met residents and people already in the working world.

2018.04

Opened in Ebisu

830

Cumulative by May 2020

~60

Per month at that point

1,000+

Later record in 2025

830人と1,000人以上は、違う時点の記録

The May 2020 official note records 830 cumulative visitors at that point, around 60 per month, and around 500 per year. It describes roughly tenfold growth over about eighteen months through word of mouth and repeat visitors.

A 2025 restart story later looked back on more than 1,000 visitors. The figures do not contradict one another: they were recorded at different moments.

Keeping the dates visible matters more than making one large number sound stronger. It lets us carry the record forward accurately.

口コミが運んでいたのは、住所だけではない

Word of mouth can sound like a marketing channel. Looking back from KIBOU, however, friends passed along more than a name and an address.

Who lived there? How did mornings begin? Who gathered at the table? What kind of distance did people keep? Someone who had already visited explained what the house felt like, so the next person knew a little before opening the door.

Not a stranger's house.
A house they had not visited, but already knew a little.

Word of mouth did more than bring people in. It worked as an invisible guidebook carrying the culture of the home ahead of the visit.

リピーターがつくったのは、宿泊件数ではなく日常

Some people came back. They met in the morning, talked at the table, shared the day an interview went badly, and said “welcome home.” Through repeated meetings, the house was explained as daily life rather than instructions.

The number alone cannot explain Sonomanma-so. What mattered was not only that a stranger visited once, but that someone brought the next person or came back again.

温かい話だけには編集しない

We do not claim that Sonomanma-so was always an ideal community. A note written by a guest in 2020 records both discomfort with a changed house and people trying to make warmth together again.

Opening a house does not automatically make family-like ties. People remake relationships in daily life. Keeping the difficult moments beside the growth figures is why KIBOU does not assume that gathering people is enough.

共通の友人がいない人にも、先に家を知ってもらう

At one house, word of mouth became an invisible guidebook. Across many spaces, not every visitor can share a friend in the middle.

KIBOU therefore builds a game for each real space. A visitor encounters the home's morning and daily rules, learns why those rules exist, and then decides whether to apply for that space.

Clearing the game does not prove that someone is safe, trustworthy, or suitable for a job. It records something narrower: this person has learned about the home and completed preparation to visit.

Per-space quests carry the explanation once provided by a friend to someone who does not happen to share that connection.

確認できる数字だけで、更新を続ける

This page limits itself to figures whose dates can be checked in first-party public records: the April 2018 start, 830 cumulative visitors and roughly 60 per month as of May 2020, and the later account of more than 1,000 in 2025.

When another first-party record can be verified, we will update this page with its date and source.

At one house, people opened the door after strangers had already become a little familiar. KIBOU is carrying that order into the next space.

記録を読む