From: Robert Jacobson <cyberoid@u.washington.edu>
Subject: INDUSTRY: Japan Report, May 1993:  MITI Activity and Kansei Tech
Date: Sun, 13 Jun 93 23:52:21 -0700



Developments in Japan
 
My friend and colleague Satoshi Fushimi, of the Information and
Mathematical Science Lab, Inc. (IMS), in Tokyo, reports there is
serious continuing interest in Japan regarding virtual worlds.
 
In an emailing sent to me last month, Fushimi-san reports:
 
	In MITI's Sensory-Measurement Project, we now have a 
	group studying VR technologies and their application to 
	the project.  The group includes Richo, Mitsubishi Atomic 
	Power, Shimizu (Construction) Corp., Sanyo Electric, Nac 
	(an eye-tracker maker), NEC-Sansei, Hamamatsu 
	Photonics, IMS, and advisors from MEL [Mechanical 
	Engineering Laboratory, a MITI lab] and the former IPRI 
	laboratory.  I am a kind of chairman for the group.
 
	IMS itself has developed a full original VR library, a 
	Virtual Tool Kit using C++ (its prototype is called Eiffel).  
	This cannot be sold now because the know-how developed 
	as part of the Project is to be disclosed only when the 
	Project is finished.  But I think the Tool Kit is a very 
	interesting one in comparison with other tool kits I know 
	(e.g., Sense8's WorldToolKit).
 
	Over the last year we have received advice from 
	Professor Hirose of the University of Tokyo.  This year 
	we will study more of the psychological aspects of this 
	technology.
 
	As for MITI itself, at present, MITI's top bureaucrat, Mr. 
	Tanahashi, has a strong interest in kansei technologies.  
	MITI convened a symposium named, "Toward a Kansei 
	Society and the Company in Kansei Society," on 
	February 2, 1993.  Five well-known persons -- Kurokawa 
	(Architect), Sen (Master of the Tea Ceremony), Mori 
	(Fashion Designer), Suzuki (Chairman of the Company 
	Messena Association), and Kimura (Professor Emeritus at 
	U of Tokyo) -- joined Tanahashi on a panel.  The Sensory 
	Measurement Project is part of this trend [toward better 
	understanding kansei and integrating it with technology].
 
Satoshi Fushimi will be a co-moderator of the forthcoming
sci.virtual-worlds.apps newsgroup.  He can be reached at
 
	fushimi@idas.imslab.co.jp
 
Thanks to Fushimi-san for this timely report.
 
Bob Jacobson
CoModerator