About - Creating a place where advanced English learners keep growing
Alphabet Soup is a startup based in Shibuya, Tokyo. Our mission is to create a place where advanced English learners keep growing.
Even fluent speakers can find that their intelligence, humor and personality don’t fully come through in English. We want more people to be themselves in English and speak as equals.
Values - What we care about
- Speaking as an equalWe aim for communication skills that let you hold your own with native speakers.
- Research-based learningWe design learning around three ideas from second language acquisition research: the input hypothesis, automatization and the output hypothesis.
- Personal supportWe build a way of learning around each learner’s goals and lifestyle, together.
Founder
Ryo Kubota
CEO & English Coach
Eiken Grade 1 · TOEIC 965 · Former interpreter and translator
“I freeze up in meetings.” “My listening just won’t improve.” “I only have 30 minutes on weekdays.” I start by listening carefully, then propose a path you can keep up with that gets you results as quickly as possible. That’s what I do best.
English has been part of my life since high school, where I started working as a translator and interpreter and passed Eiken Grade 1 at 17. After moving to Tokyo, I worked as an engineer for ten years, joining software development meetings in English and interviewing candidates as a hiring panelist. My coaching is built on using English in real work, not just in textbooks.
Today I run a company that builds learning services for advanced English speakers. It started from a simple thought: I wish this had existed when I was still learning. As a lifelong English nerd, I help learners who feel stuck take the next step.
Company
- Name
- Alphabet Soup Inc.
- Founded
- January 2024
- CEO
- Ryo Kubota
- Address
- Shibuya Dogenzaka Tokyu Building 2F-C, 1-10-8 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0043, Japan
- Business
- English coaching, negotiation academy, English learning platform, teaching materials
Let’s talk about your English.
Coaching, corporate programs, press inquiries — we’d love to hear from you.
Office
- Shibuya, TokyoShibuya Dogenzaka Tokyu Building 2F-C1-10-8 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-kuTokyo 150-0043, Japan