Insight4 min read

A scented focus booth got used 40% more.

Tanseisha’s office in Shinagawa has three focus booths and two relaxation booths. They were used for two weeks without scent and four weeks with a citrus and a woody scent, and the use was counted by sensors. One focus booth rose 40%, and 60–120-minute sessions that had not existed before appeared. Another booth fell. The company itself calls it an early test.

Written by the Shizen teamSource: KaleidoPath (press release), 29 September 2026All Insight articlesEnglish translation by the Shizen team of the original article in Japanese.
A young woman relaxing in a hammock with a book, a Shizen SBX1 on the small table in front of her
A Shizen SBX1 in a rest corner. A small room with one clear purpose is the easiest place to test a scent and measure the result. Visual: Shizen.
+40%use of the scented focus booth10 → 14 sessions, focus booth ③
21 → 29 minaverage stay in the scented relaxation boothrelaxation booth ②; more sessions of 60 minutes and over
+53.2 pointsexpected productivity after a breakscale −100 to +100; a subjective rating

Tanseisha is a leading spatial-design company in Japan, and its office in Shinagawa, Tokyo, served as the laboratory. From 1 to 14 April 2026 its three focus booths and two relaxation booths were used as usual, without scent. From 15 April to 12 May, two focus booths and both relaxation booths were given a scent, citrus to refresh and woody to unwind, selected and designed by KaleidoPath, a scent-design studio in Tokyo. One focus booth was deliberately left unscented as a control.1 What sets this apart from the usual testimonial: use was not asked about but counted by the infrared sensors of Tanseisha’s COCOSTAT spatial-analytics service, on weekdays from 7:00 to 19:00.1

A mixed result

One booth rose 40%; another fell.

Scented focus booth ③ was used 14 times in the scented period, up from 10: a 40% rise. More telling, long sessions appeared in that booth: 30–60-minute uses went from 0 to 2, and 60–120-minute uses from 0 to 4.1 But scented focus booth ② went the other way, 44 → 39 uses and an average of 21 → 15 minutes, and the unscented control booth fell too, 25 → 22.1 Among the relaxation booths, booth ② lengthened from an average of 21 to 29 minutes with more sessions of 60 minutes and over, while booth ① shortened slightly.1

KaleidoPath writes itself that this is an early verification with a limited sample, to be confirmed in further tests.1 We quote it as it stands, because that is exactly what makes the report worth reading: the numbers that rose and the numbers that fell are shown side by side.

60–120-minute sessions in the scented focus booth: from none to four.
What to trust

Not the 40%, but the method.

Four things in the design are worth copying. There was a comparison period before the scent went in. One booth was left unscented. Use was measured by sensors, with a clear definition: continuous detection counts as one session, a gap of more than 10 minutes starts a new one. And the scent was designed at a concentration that “blends naturally into the space”, with the option of not using it.1 Questionnaires were kept for what is genuinely subjective: the strength of the scent and users’ expectation of their own productivity after a break, an average of +53.2 points on a scale from −100 to +100 across the relaxation booths, with every area at +40 or more. The company is clear that this is an expectation, not measured productivity.1

A young woman sitting relaxed on the floor with headphones and a phone, next to a Shizen SBA2 by a window
A Shizen SBA2 in a rest corner. In the Tanseisha test, the woody-scented relaxation booth was used for longer: from an average of 21 minutes to 29. Visual: Shizen.

The two scent choices tell a story too. Citrus for the booth meant for freshness and focus, woody for the booth meant for unwinding. That squares with two earlier articles of ours: different scents help different kinds of tiredness, and a scent only works if the person likes it. Keeping an unscented option is the simplest way of respecting the second.

For offices in Indonesia

Start with a small room, then measure.

Offices in Jakarta are building phone booths, focus rooms and quiet corners too. They are the easiest places to try a scent: small volume, clear purpose, and use that can be counted from an existing room-booking system or sensor. Tanseisha needed two weeks without and four weeks with scent to get readable numbers. That is a sensible size of trial for any office.

What it means for your space

For offices and coworking spaces in Indonesia.

1

Start with a focus booth or quiet room, not the whole floor.

A room of 5–30 m² with one purpose is the best place to test. One small unit such as an SBX1 at low intensity is enough for booths, small meeting rooms and rest corners; the hourly schedule puts the scent there when the room is in use.

2

Two weeks without, four weeks with.

Log use from the room-booking system or the sensors you already have, then compare. Count sessions and their length, not impressions. If the numbers come out mixed, as at Tanseisha, that is information, not failure: move the scent, or change it.

3

Keep an unscented option.

Tanseisha left one booth unscented. Do the same. People differ, and Shizen’s site survey plus a trial of two or three scents exists precisely to find the scent the users of that room like, not its manager.

How Shizen does it

A Japanese brand, rented monthly.

Shizen is a Japanese brand — by Botanica Fragrance Japan — with more than 100 fragrances, including a series inspired by five-star hotels. The system is rented monthly: machine, installation, fragrance oil, regular servicing and unit replacement included, minimum contract 12 months. A free site survey, no commitment.

Portable · SBX115–30 m²Rp597,000 / monthboutiques, clinics, meeting rooms, reception desks
Cozy · SBA181–200 m²Rp998,000 / monthrestaurants, showrooms, retail floors, gyms
Prestige · SBA2201–300 m²Rp1,186,000 / monthhotel lobbies, executive offices, flagship boutiques
Calculate my spaceAsk on WhatsApp

Plan prices as of September 2026. All six plans, up to 2,000 m², are on the home page.

Shizen SBA2
Sources and notes

Where these figures come from.

  1. KaleidoPath Inc. (PR TIMES), 29 September 2026: the trial design (period, place, areas, scents, session definition, measuring hours), all usage figures for the focus and relaxation booths, the questionnaire results, and the company’s note that this is an early verification with a limited sample. Tanseisha is named as the partner that placed the sensors and analysed the data.
  2. Shizen is not affiliated with the companies, media or researchers named in this article; they are cited as sources.
  3. The effect of a scent on a space depends on the room, the intensity and the fragrance chosen. That is why we always start with a site survey and a trial of two or three scents.
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