Visit Tokyo in 3D 拡張現実の東京散歩

Born from a partnership between Seiko Epson Corps and Kinki Nippon Tourism, an innovative gadget that will recreate the city of Tokyo in 3D, as it was hundreds of years ago. How? Well, by using 3D glasses.

Tokyo in 3D

The glasses are already booked, and the first test visits began in February. The end result has been jointly developed with Sukalab.inc, a company affiliated with the University of Tokyo. The company comes from a group which imagines new ways of travelling.

It must be said that the need to immerse visitors in the old Tokyo has always been dear to the eyes of the Japanese. Indeed, the bombing of the Second World War and the damage of the great Kanto earthquake left many ruins and little evidence of the past.

Giving life to the past 

This is for example the case for the late Edo Castle, for which the reconstruction projects were so often the subject of debates. The new technology will reconcile everyone: just put on your glasses and stand in front of the castle ruins to find yourself transported to the time of the shoguns.

Nihonbashi, the famous bridge amply illustrated in prints, is also part of the tour. It will be shown as then, before it was replaced by concrete.

Height of realism: it will be possible thanks to the glasses to watch real-time reconstructions of some neighborhoods. Stalls, passers-by, and street vendors will be materialized like ghosts of a bygone era. It is also planned to travel during the ever so popular tourist seasons, by for example recreating before your very eyes, cherry blossoms.

In practice

This will be accompanied with explanations in English, which you can listen to through a pair of headphones attached to the glasses. The future of next generation tourism is on the way, and not just in Tokyo. Gunma prefectures and Fukui are also in the game.

A seven-hour visit, including Edo Castle, Nihonbashi, and other points of interest would be charged at ¥ 12,000, not to mention discounts for students and seniors.

See you in 2020!