Kamogawa AI Search Lab — Kyoto
These days, when people want to know something, they ask AI instead of Google.
So which businesses does AI choose to mention, and how does it describe them?
Ask the same question in a different language, and both the sources AI draws on
and what it says can change.
Kääselä tracks this every month, under the same conditions, in Japanese, English,
Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese — and records and analyzes the differences.
How does AI search cross the line between languages?
12 months of continuous observation
Starting 2026.08
Published the first Sunday of every month.
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For recommendation-style questions (e.g. "best kimono rental in Kyoto?"), the sources AI cites show three patterns.
When comparison media exists for a category and language, AI cites it — and the more commercially incentivized the category, the more comparison media matures and gets cited.
Where no comparison media is available, AI falls back on authoritative sources — official tourism sites, international travel media.
In categories with little comparison media or authoritative coverage, AI cites a business's own site directly — when that site states concrete facts about the business itself.
| Category | Japanese | English | Simplified | Traditional |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tea Ceremony | Public52.2% | Media46.0%#2 gap: 6pt | Self-run40.6%#2 gap: 3pt | Self-run56.8% |
| Kimono | Media53.7% | Media49.1% | Self-run54.8% | Self-run66.7% |
| Zazen | Public50.0% | Self-run80.2% | Self-run49.5% | Self-run43.4%#2 gap: 3pt |
A single-point, single-engine cross-sectional observation. Causation is not established.
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New data, not new names.
Kääselä (also written Kaasela) is an independent research project that continuously records and analyzes — based on actual verification results — how generative AI recognizes and describes businesses.
GEO, LLMO, AIO.
New names for this field keep appearing. Kääselä isn't interested in the names.
What does AI draw on, and why does it mention a given business? What does a business need, in the age of AI, to be properly recognized by its customers?
I keep testing that question through measurement.
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If you'd like to know more about the methodology, want to try measuring your own
industry, or have thoughts on the findings, feel free to reach out.
kamogawa.ai.lab@gmail.com
I'll email you when the latest Monthly Report is published.