Making English More Accessible: Bizmates Expands "Opportunities to Experience English" with a New interfm Segment

Bizmates Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Nobuaki Suzuki; hereafter "our company"), which operates the business-specialized online English conversation service "Bizmates", will launch a new segment "It's My Life" (hereafter "this segment") within interfm's new program "TEENAGE FUN-CLUB" (broadcasting starts April 4, 2026, every Saturday from 19:00 to 20:00). The segment will feature our company's director and co-founder, Hika Ito.

In this segment, starting from English appearing in music, movies, and quotes from celebrities, we will unravel the background and nuances of phrases, introducing them as practical English that can be utilized in daily and business scenes. It will be broadcast on interfm as a roughly 10-minute segment and will also be distributed via radiko and podcasts, allowing easy listening anytime from a smartphone, not just in real-time. Through this, we will expand the opportunities to experience English, making it more accessible.

As globalization advances, the importance of English proficiency continues to rise. On the other hand, English proficiency in Japan remains at a low level in international comparisons, with challenges pointed out, such as ranking 92nd in the world in the latest survey by the international educational institution EF. Given this background, it is considered crucial to increase opportunities to encounter English in daily life to improve Japanese people's English proficiency.

This segment will be deployed through interfm broadcasts. interfm covers approximately 43.5 million people centered in the Tokyo metropolitan area, and the radio streaming service 'radiko' has around 8.5 million monthly users, boasting a wide reach. By combining these with podcast distribution, we realize an environment where more people can experience English regardless of time or place.

This segment is structured for about 10 minutes. Within the segment, English phrases will be picked up from diverse cultures such as music, movies, and celebrity quotes, and their background and nuances will be explained. Furthermore, by introducing concrete ways to use them not only in daily conversation but also in business scenes, we reconstruct English as expressions that can actually be used. Leveraging the characteristics of audio media, we provide a new touchpoint where people can effortlessly experience English even during "multi-tasking time" such as while commuting.

Furthermore, Hika Ito, our company's director and co-founder who will appear on the show, is a second-generation Japanese Canadian born in Canada. In addition to his experience as an English instructor, he has been involved in developing business English materials and corporate training, and currently oversees the foundational structure of material design, instructor training, and quality control at Bizmates. Based on his expertise, he will introduce practical English expressions.

With the mission of "Enabling more business professionals to succeed globally," our company supports the acquisition of "usable English" and "communicative English" in business scenes through the business-specialized online English conversation service "Bizmates".

Through this segment, we will expand the opportunities to experience English, create triggers for learning, make English more familiar, and lower the psychological hurdles of learning English, thereby contributing to the promotion of globalization among Japanese people.

[Program and Segment Overview]
- Program name: TEENAGE FUN-CLUB (interfm)
- DJ: Glover (Active as the frontman of SKA SKA CLUB and widely active in music and radio)
- Program HP: [URL]