Our story

I was an international student, too.

In 2012, our CEO, Iken Setsu, came to Japan from China to study. Language, admissions, visas, finding a job — he had to work out every step on his own.

On September 29, 2013, the following year, he opened a small private school called Chinichi to help international students like him prepare for Japanese universities and graduate schools. He knew what they needed, because he was one of them.

From one small school to many

Word spread, and Chinichi later became a company. In 2021 it opened Shibuya Gaigo Gakuin, a Japanese language school, and at the end of that year SGG Gaigo Gakuin joined the group.

From 2024 he took on the management of Haba Gakuen, and from 2025 Hirai Gakuen, both educational corporations. Also in 2025, SGG Gaigo Gakuin added campuses in Osaka and Koenji. The group now supports international students from Japanese language school through vocational college.

From admission to employment

The more time we spent with students, the clearer it became that the challenge was never just getting into school. Language, further study, visas, employment — if any one of them breaks, the journey ends.

CCC, founded in 2023, was licensed for worker dispatch and job placement in 2026, so we can now support students into their careers after graduation. Today XY Group welcomes more than 4,000 international students a year.

Why we built XY

As the schools grew, another problem came into focus. Recruitment, applications, enrollment records — so much time went into paper, spreadsheets and administration that only certain people knew how to do.

In 2024 he founded XY, K.K. and began building systems with AI himself. In 2026, Compass, our student application and management system, went live at the group's schools; at one school, application processing now takes 1–2 staff instead of 6–8.

Solving for the unknown

In mathematics, x and y are the unknowns. What began with one international student continues today as XY — education times technology, people times AI.

We refine our systems every day in our own schools, and bring them from Tokyo to educational institutions around the world. We keep solving for the unknown.