For most of the last few years I have introduced the company twice. Once by the name on the contracts, 合同会社LaLoka Labs, and once by the name people actually knew, Kafkai. Every invoice, every introduction, every "wait, which one are you again?" came with a small explanation attached.
As of 1st of May 2026, the explanation is gone. 合同会社LaLoka Labs (LaLoka Labs LLC) is now 株式会社Kafkai Giken (Kafkai Giken, Inc.).
Today's blog post announces the a new structure, a new address and our new name.
Three Things Changed at Once
I could have swapped the name and left the rest alone. I did not, because the three changes were really one decision wearing three hats.
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From 合同会社 to 株式会社. We registered as a 合同会社 (an LLC) because it was cheap, quick, and exactly enough company for a couple of engineers and an idea. After 5 years, we have outgrown that.
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From 台東区 to 渋谷区. Our office moved from Taitō to Shibuya. We are now at FPG Links Jinnan 5F, Jinnan 1-11-4, Shibuya, Tokyo 150-0041, Japan.
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From a name we invented to a name we earned. "LaLoka Labs" was a perfectly good name. It just never described anything. The thing that pays the bills, the thing people search for, the thing we hold a patent and trademark in, is Kafkai. Carrying one name for the company and another for the work was a small tax I had been paying in every conversation. So the company now takes the name of its own product.
Why "Giken"
"Giken" is 技研, short for 技術研究, technology research. I did not pick it because it sounds good in English. It is a deliberate borrow from a Japanese naming tradition.
When a Japanese company puts 技研 in its name, it is making a claim about itself. The famous one is 本田技研工業 (Honda Motor Co., Ltd.), which began with a man fitting surplus engines to bicycles. Less known outside Japan, but closer to the bone, is 株式会社技研製作所 (GIKEN LTD.), the Kochi company that invented silent press-in piling and, as it happens, spells 技研 in English exactly the way we do: "Giken".
The claim those names make is a simple one. We research and build out our own solutions and technology. We do not just resell someone else's and stick a logo on it. The way I would put it in Japanese is 「自ら技術を研究・開発して新しい価値を生み出す集団でありたい」 We want to be a group that researches and develops its own technology, and makes something new out of it.
I am an engineer, and so is most of the company. Everything we have shipped came out of our own hands: Kafkai for AI-assisted writing, KaiMail for custom-domain email, our market intelligence platform for smaller companies that cannot afford an agency, and PuchiDen, the browser-based international calling service we co-built with our partners in Estonia. The name now says out loud what we already were.
What Does Not Change
Almost everything.
The products keep running. Your logins, your data, your subscriptions, your domains: all untouched. Existing contracts and agreements carry over to 株式会社Kafkai Giken automatically, so if you are a customer or a partner, there is nothing you need to do. The only difference you are likely to notice is the company name on your next invoice and the new Shibuya address printed beside it.
Same team, same people, same work. We answer support from the same desks. They are just in a different ward now.
What Now
Honestly, we get back to building. Changing the name does not ship a feature or fix a bug. What it does is end a small, daily contradiction between what we are called and what we do, and let me introduce the company once instead of twice.
