Visual, auditory and tactile sensations from the craft site are simultaneously live broadcast to 3 overseas bases! Digital Craft Workshop to Motivate Visitors to Japan

Image of tactile reproduction device

• Digital Craft Workshop Overview

　Utilizing the latest tactile VR technology, we connect yoshino’s workshops online with select shops and event spaces in three overseas locations (Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong). In addition, we will hold a digital craft workshop where you can share and experience vibrations and tactile sensations transmitted to the hands of craftsmen during woodworking in real time. Through this program, participants will learn about the history and culture of Yoshino Forestry, enjoy live streaming videos of the work scenery of the woodworkers full of realism, and experience the vibrations felt by craftsmen through a tactile reproduction device in real time. 。 By sharing the vibrations and touches of craftsmen live, we create an immersive feeling of the world view of Yoshino Forestry and Woodworking expressed in this program. By amplifying the presence of craftsmen and the presence of the workplace, we aim to improve the desire to visit craft production areas and workshops.

■Implementation image

Live stream the touch of the hand felt by craftsmen during processing in Japan online via overseas tactile reproduction equipment

■Date and time: Saturday, January 8 and Sunday, January 9, 2022, 14:00-15:00 (Japan time)
■Venues:
・Distributor (Japan): “Kobo Applejack” (1595 Higashikawa, Kawakami-mura, Yoshino-gun, Nara 639-3541)
A knife is applied to a high-speed Yoshino cedar board, and a wooden vessel is freely scraped out. Kiyotaka Kobayashi, the company’s representative, has changed from a former pilot and has been making wooden vessels since 1996. He is particular about local materials and is good at making vessels that bring out its beauty, and since 2010 he has been working on making vessels using Yoshino cedar. Yoshino Hinoki and Yoshino Cedar, which have been carefully raised for hundreds of years by Yoshino’s yamamori, make use of the straightforward and straight grain of wood, all of which have beauty, lightness, and gentle touch.
Delivery destination:
(1) SingaporeSupermama
（SUPERMAMA THE MUSEUM STORE @ NMS (FLAGSHIP)　National Museum of Singapore）
(2)Taiwan “Pop Up Asia”(Taipei 101)
(3) HongKong, The Tabibito(Bestow Cafe)
■Project website URL: https://localcraftjapan.com/
 

• What is LOCAL CRAFT JAPAN?

This project is designed and disseminated on “Craft Tourism,” a tourism product that allows visitors to experience attractive content unique to the region, based on the traditional technology, culture, and uniqueness of craftsmen inherited in local industries and production areas throughout Japan. In particular, the Japan Tourism Agency’s “Online Technology Utilization Project to Increase The Desire to Visit” holds workshops at select shops and galleries around the world where you can experience crafts and culture from various parts of Japan using VR / avatar customer service technology. In addition, we hold events that you can visit in production areas of Various Parts of Japan online. We will promote dx (digital transformation) of these craft tourism, aiming to increase the desire to visit Japan in anticipation of after corona. At the same time, we aim to contribute to the succession of Japanese traditional crafts and traditional industries and the realization of sustainable tourism by building a base for acceptance, tour creation, information dissemination, and channel development on the production area side, and establishing a guide to Japan.

■Project implementation system
・This project will be implemented as an “online technology utilization project to increase the desire to visit” to create new tourism demand and increase the desire to visit by promoting tourism DX by the Japan Tourism Agency.
Please refer to the following website for the efforts of the Japan Tourism Agency.
▼Japan Tourism Agency’s Tourism DX Initiative Introduction Website
https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/shisaku/kankochi/digital_transformation.html
▼ Tourism DX Promotion Projectnote Account – https://digital-x-project-gov.note.jp/
▼ Tourism DX Promotion Project twitter account – https://twitter.com/digitalxproject
・Operation: LOCAL CRAFT JAPAN Executive Committee (Mitemo Co., Ltd. / Trunk Design Co., Ltd.)
 

• What is the Cybernetic being project?

Goal 1 of the Moonshot R&D Project of the Japan Science and Technology Agency “Research and development project to realize a society in which people are freed from the constraints of the body, brain, space, and time by 2050”. We aim to develop cybernetic avatar technology that allows people to maximize their abilities and share diverse skills and experiences, and to build a social infrastructure that distributes physical skills and experiences in harmony with people and society, taking into account institutional and ethical issues when each other makes use of skills and experiences. ■Project website URL: https://cybernetic-being.org/