Visual Bank Inc. (Minato-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Saneyuki Nagai), through its subsidiary amanaimages Inc., has released a new dataset under its AI training data solution, Qlean Dataset.
The dataset is a Japanese single-speaker read-aloud speech corpus based on children’s books, fairy tales, picture books, and traditional folk stories.

It includes Japanese audio recordings in which one native Japanese speaker reads children’s stories aloud, along with transcripts that accurately match the spoken content. The recordings capture clear, natural narration that reflects story flow and characters’ emotions, including pacing, pauses, and expressive intonation typical of read-aloud speech.

Because all recordings are produced by a single speaker and include long-form narrative content, the dataset can be used to evaluate speech recognition models under consistent speaker conditions and to train or assess language models that process extended, story-based text. The aligned audio and text also make the dataset suitable for testing workflows that combine speech and language processing.

Qlean Dataset provides training data designed for use from research and development through to commercial AI applications. This dataset supports basic validation and performance evaluation for speech- and language-based AI systems, including ASR, NLP, and LLM-related use cases.

Dataset Overview: Japanese Single-Speaker Children’s Book Read-Aloud Speech Dataset

Use Case Examples for the Japanese Single-Speaker Children’s Book Read-Aloud Speech Dataset

Research Use Cases

• Evaluation of ASR Performance on Read Speech
  The dataset can be used to evaluate how accurately ASR models transcribe narrative-style read speech with story context. Because the recordings are produced by a single speaker, researchers can focus on analyzing recognition errors related to linguistic structure and content rather than speaker variability.

• Assessment of Language Models Handling Long-Form Narrative Context
  By using continuous story-form text, researchers can evaluate how well language models retain context, understand narrative flow, and track relationships between characters across extended passages.

Industrial Use Cases

• Evaluation of Text-to-Speech and Narration Models
  For speech synthesis systems designed for children’s content, the dataset can serve as evaluation data to assess how naturally narrative-style speech and storytelling expressions are reproduced.

• Foundational Validation for Voice-Enabled Conversational AI
  By combining read-aloud speech and aligned text, the dataset supports testing dialogue and response pipelines that start from speech input, as well as integrated processing workflows that bridge speech and language components.

About Qlean Dataset

Qlean Dataset is a commercial-use-ready AI training data solution provided by Amana Images Inc., a subsidiary of Visual Bank Inc.
It supports a wide range of data types, including images, videos, audio, 3D assets, and text, enabling both research and commercial AI development in a legally safe environment.
Through collaborations with data partners such as Chiba Lotte Marines Co., Ltd. and Toyo Keizai Inc., Qlean Dataset continues to expand its specialized, industry-focused lineup known as the “AI Data Recipe.”
By reducing the operational burden of data collection and preparation, Qlean Dataset helps organizations establish AI development environments that are both legally compliant and risk-free.

▶ Qlean Dataset: https://qleandataset.visual-bank.co.jp/en
▶ AI Data Recipe: https://qleandataset.visual-bank.co.jp/en/lineup

Key Features of Qlean Dataset

• Existing datasets deliverable within one business day

• Custom data collection and recording services available

▶ Contact: https://qleandataset.visual-bank.co.jp/en/contact

About Visual Bank Inc.

Visual Bank Inc. is a Tokyo-based startup building Next-Generation Data infrastructure to enhance AI development capabilities under the mission “Unlocking Data Accessibility.”
The company operates THE PEN, an AI-assisted creative tool for manga artists and the Qlean Dataset service.
Its subsidiaries include Amana Images Inc., one of Japan’s largest photostock providers; Qlean Dataset, which leads research and development in AI data; and THE PEN Inc., an AI-assisted creative tool for manga artists.

CEO: Saneyuki Nagai
Address: 6F, C-Cube Minami Aoyama Building, 7-1-7 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0062
Corporate Site: https://visual-bank.co.jp/en
Amana Images: https://qleandataset.visual-bank.co.jp/en/company-overview