About
One person behind the app.
Kanzen is designed and built by Tom Piguet, on his own, in France. No ads, no gimmicks: the tool I wish I’d had to learn kanji.
Who’s behind it
My name is Tom Piguet. I’m learning Japanese myself — Anki for vocabulary, Kanzen for kanji — and it was by struggling with kanji that I started building the tool I was missing. I do it on my own: the code, the design, the data for all 2,135 kanji and the pages you’re reading. When you write to Kanzen, I’m the one who answers.
Ikigai Studio, the publisher
Ikigai Studio is the name I publish Kanzen under. Ikigai (生き甲斐) is a Japanese concept for what gives meaning to someone’s life. The studio was born from a conviction: an app can be a tool rather than an attention channel — you pick it up, you use it, you put it down. Without guilt, without forced retention, without dark patterns.
No hidden subscriptions, no needless notifications, no data sold to anyone — and usage measurement stays minimal and subject to your consent.
Approach
I design and build alone, which forces choices: do less, but better. Clean code, a considered interface, reasoned decisions rather than followed trends.