An Interesting Future That Lies a Little Further Ahead - CHANGE TOMORROW = CHOMORO!

 ■An Interesting Future That Lies a Little Further Ahead - CHANGE TOMORROW = CHOMORO!

This is Ichiya Nakamura - a changer of tomorrow

An event where you can experience the future of pop culture and technology.

"An interesting future that lies a little further ahead - CHANGE TOMORROW".

In both Japanese and English, it is abbreviated as "CHOMORO".

The event was held in Smart City Takeshiba.

Takeshiba is a bay area directly connected to "Haneda Airport", and it is the gateway to the sea of Tokyo and the sky.

Under the theme of "Pop & Tech", a special zone has been formed where international businesses are concentrated.

The CiP Council, a community that connects content, media, IT, universities, municipalities, and the government, is the focal point, and it is bringing about innovation.

CHOMORO - "An interesting future that lies a little further ahead" - is an event where you can experience a part of this.

Behind-the-scenes of a convenience store and digital signs for guidance. 

Various robots are already at work in the smart building in Takeshiba.

Welcome!

It is a city with many built-in sensors, and data that circles around and around. 

Technology that will change people's lifestyles was implemented in a 2021 era city for people to experience.

It was held during COVID-19, just before the Olympics, and it was a venture that focused on realism. 

Post COVID-19, I want to create a hybrid, new kind of rhythm.

"Workshop Collection", a creative event for children, was also held.

It was full of robot stuff.

During these difficult times, CHOMORO did not do any promotion, or try to get visitors to come.

Even so, a total of 20,000 people - 4,000 people in real life and 16,000 people online - enjoyed the event.

There is the Japan Expo in Paris, Ars Electronica in Linz, and SXSW in Austin, USA.

It is strange that Tokyo does not have such kind of events.

Let's bring together pop and tech to the Mecca that is Tokyo.

This is the starting point. 

Superhuman sports and e-Sports, where people and machines are one and the same.

A representation of Pop & Tech.

Just before the Olympics and Paralympics, new sports that break down the barrier between the Olympics and Paralympics were on display.

Let's make it happen!

"ZEKKI MANZAI" shows "CHOMORO" as seen by the comedy world.

The challenge is to introduce "Manzai" (comic dialogue) and comedy sketches with spectacular views of the Northern Lights, volcanoes, futuristic cities, grasslands, and cheerleaders on a wall-to-wall 4K screen in the background. 

Igo-Shogi, Magical Lovely, New York, Tamons, Kazuyuki Sakuma, Impossible, and Rice.

Ridiculous stuff~!

There was also a serious "CHOMORO".

Researchers from Keio Media Design KMD, RIKEN, Softbank, and others exhibited real examples of technology that will change tomorrow.

iU students' "Kowashite Tsukurou" (Break and Make) workshop. Let's break it, let's make it.

Faculty members are not to be outdone.

There was a press conference for the "B Lab," iU's research laboratory, and a unique lab for creating an interesting future together.

At the same time, an agreement was entered into with Ota Ward, where HANEDA INNOVATION CITY is located.

It will promote the concept of connecting Tokyo Bay with various vehicles on land, sea, and air.

Collaborative events with urban festivals in Sapporo, Kobe, and Fukuoka will also be held.

We will continue to connect.

We will develop it into an international event, by connecting it to Digital Day on October 10th and the Osaka World Expo in 2025.

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New Edition: Creating a Super Free Society 7 - Super Free-Time Killing Strategies

 ■New Edition: Creating a Super Free Society 7 - Super Free-Time Killing Strategies

　Part of my recent work, "New Edition: Creating a Super Free Society After COVID-19 - The Age of Cats" is revealed below. 

　From Chapter 4, "Super Free-Time Killing Strategies".

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○Wanting to be Miku Hatsune

　A super free society is a super-entertainment society. The theme is to kill time, by also including sports and education. I want to create a place for that, and that is CiP. However, it doesn't have to be Takeshiba. It is important to create a super-free time killing town, and the first step is Smart City Takeshiba. It can be done all over the planet. We'll follow that concept.

　The first part of the vision that was presented at the CiP launch was "A Japanese-influenced fusion of Silicon Valley and Hollywood".

There are hubs where entrepreneurship is thriving in the United States in Silicon Valley on the West Coast, and Route 128 in the suburbs of Boston on the East Coast. In contrast to the open Silicon Valley, Route 128 is self-sufficient and enclosed. Different approaches continue to foster the tech industry. However, it also fuses technology with entertainment. I want it to be tightly bound together like the way Silicon Valley and Hollywood are.

　However, that does not mean that we will create a Hollywood or a Silicon Valley. The strength of Hollywood and Silicon Valley is the concentration of top artists, geeks, and business elites. In contrast, Japan's strength is its large number of precise and diligent craftsmen. In addition, Japan's identity is in its industrial and cultural power that is sordid and chaotic, where everyone participates, creates and is a consumer in the comic market, Nico Doga (Nico Nico Douga - Japanese video sharing service), karaoke, cosplay, Yuru-chara (mascot characters), and B-class gourmet food. Let’s make use of this to become a chamber for growth. [Identity] (Sheena Ringo)

There are research and education centers like the Seoul CKL (Contents Korea Lab). It holds money like the Frankfurt ECB (European Central Bank). It is chaotic like the Marche (central market) in Casablanca, water is splashed around like at the seaside in Barcelona, and there is always music and dancing like at the Buenos Aires Caminito. That kind of place.

 　A place where men and women lithely strut around like at Monte Napoleone in Milan; where the government is serious like it is in Singapore; where children run around like at the La Villette in Paris; where there is excellent food and sake like at Ponto-cho in Kyoto; and a place that is brimming with creativity like San Fransokyo in "Big Hero 6", where the West Coast and Tokyo blend together. That kind of place. 

　A town that everyone can build together. Akihabara is the model. Akihabara was originally a town for radio parts, then in the 70's it changed into a town for consumer electronics. In the 80's it became a town for PCs, and in the 90's it changed its character to become a town for nerds. CiP promised to continue for 70 years after opening, but people will say, "That place has been continuously changing for 70 years since opening, right?" In 70 years I will still only be 130 years old.

CiP wants to be Hatsune Miku. Hatsune Miku is composed of three elements. First, there is the Vocaloid technology. With this technology all you have to do is write the songs and she will sing for you as part of the software. Second, is the content; that is the design of the 16-year-old, 158 cm, 42 kg character.

　And third, is the community. Everyone participated in Nico Nico Doga and developed it. We tried writing lyrics, we tried singing, we tried performing, and we tried dancing. Everyone brought their own abilities and developed them. Japan's strength lies in its power to synthesize technology, design, and a participatory community. I want to make the most of this.

Takeshiba is just a starting point. There are many similar development plans in Tokyo, such as in Shibuya, Ikebukuro, Haneda, and Shinagawa. Between Takeshiba and Haneda, a major development around JR Shinagawa awaits. It will move northward, reaching Akihabara and the University of Tokyo. Sumida has the iU. Toyosu and Harumi will also be connected, and we can envision a digital belt around the Bay Area. The redevelopment of Shibuya is also flourishing. A town where social games, J-Pop, and fashion converge. I have a vision of creating a digital hub that covers a wide area, linking Tokyo vertically and horizontally.

StationAi, a huge incubation facility, is operational in Nagoya. There is also a plan for Kyoto. A plan similar to CiP is in motion, in which the film industry, Kyoto University, Ritsumeikan University, and others, will create a center for human resource development and industrial support. Previously, the Stanford Japan Center was based in Kyoto, because it was focused on its features of the presence of technology and culture, and the thriving partnerships with the universities.

　Osaka, where Expo 2025 is coming, is also developing a large-scale entertainment center, and the same is true of Okinawa. Fukuoka is playing a leading role as a special zone for entrepreneurship. I would like cooperation with these centers to advance, and for the dots to be made into lines and then lines into surfaces. Let's create a pop-tech archipelago.

　South Korea has models. There is CKL, the "Contents Korea Lab" for human resources development, and CEL, the "Creative Economy Leader" for entrepreneurship support. The Korean government has a large budget for running them. There is also the "Digital Media City" (DMC), a media agglomeration created through a partnership between industry, the government, and the city of Seoul. The CiP Council entered into an agreement in Seoul to collaborate with the Korean government and the Korea Creative Content Agency.

In the "Iskandar" development region in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, adjacent to Singapore, the government is developing a media education and research center. The University of London is playing a central role, and CiP has entered into an agreement to collaborate there as well. It has already been stated that they have signed an agreement with Barcelona in Spain.

　The most important goal above all is Stanford University. The university functions as a platform for Silicon Valley, and CiP would like to bring in Stanford research institute to learn how to do the same. In this way, I hope it becomes a hub connecting Tokyo, the United States, Europe, and Asia.

　More than 100 years have passed since Japan embarked on a policy of national wealth and military power, and with its defeat in the war, it has dropped its banner of having a strong military. The country pushed forward to pursue a wealth policy of industrial development. The success of this was called the "Asian Miracle", but after the bubble that position was shaken.

However, Japan has begun to shine as a cultural superpower. Combined with the pacifism of 70 years since the end of the war, and the etiquette and order shown by Japanese society in the aftermath of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Japan as a whole has demonstrated what is known as "Soft power" in international political theory.

　Of course, this does not mean that Japan has lost its technological and manufacturing capabilities cultivated by its industries. They are the combination of Japan's strength in terms of hardware, and strength in terms of software with things like content, and they are the resources of Japan as it is today. Half a century ago, the Tokyo Olympics and the Japan World Exposition, Osaka, 1970 showed Japan's recovery and growth. What will Tokyo and Osaka show us next about Japan?

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iU B Lab Starts!

■iU B Lab Starts!

iU will start the "iU B Lab", a lab where everyone can create an interesting future together.

https://blaboratory.org/

"B Lab" is an acronym for Beyond, Borderless, Breakthrough.

It is a participatory platform that connects universities, research institutes, regions, and human resources around the world, to integrate people's specialties and knowledge to create technology, services, content, businesses, and society.

It stands at the gateway to Society 5.0 represented by technology such as AI/IoT, and it will create something new.

It will create a new world with/after COVID-19.

So far, the state, universities and corporate research institutes have been dealing with this issue on an individual basis.

Next, it is time for a different approach from highly specialized research institutions, based on advanced academia.

A lab where all users are connected to build a new society.

I want to create a platform and chamber for growth to create new technology, services, content, businesses, and society, by integrating a wide variety of knowledge and the expertise of many people in a participatory format that is social and open.

The scope is broad, and includes technology development, solving social issues, and creating new services, but the common denominator is creating together with digital technology and social implementation.

It is a new, participatory research institute that is social and open. 

The theme is "Creating Interesting Futures".

It focuses on creating an interesting future and implementing it in society.

We will co-create the future, from small creations to large ones, including innovations and inventions in daily life, and the creation of new businesses that have never existed before.

It is also a place for matching issues, ideas, technology, money, skills, and people.

●A community of universities and research institutes from around the world

Collaborating with 100 research institutes from around the world, to create a community that transcends boundaries.

●A global field of operation

　Setting up labs around the world, whether they be virtual or real.

●Anyone can be a researcher

　A plan to have one million researchers. Anyone from grandmothers to children can be a researcher. 

"Technology" such as IT and AI, "Culture" such as pop culture, and "People" are the three focal points that bring about innovation. Incubating these three focal points induces further innovation.

Innovation x Incubation = i².

Technology, culture, and people.

Creating and nurturing them together.

For the time being, we will formulate the following projects in the areas of education, industry, and the community. 

Schools of the Future

Super Universities

Kids University

Inter Academic e-Sports Education

School Sharing

Campus Test Site

Virtual Lab

Super Start Up School

Social Creation

Local DX

Local Revitalization

City Tech

Academia Media

Future Media

iU2.0 has started!

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New Edition: Creating a Super Free Society 6 - Super Free-Time Killing Strategies

 ■New Edition: Creating a Super Free Society 6 - Super Free-Time Killing Strategies

　Part of my recent work, "New Edition: Creating a Super Free Society After COVID-19 - The Age of Cats" is revealed below. 

　From Chapter 4, "Super Free-Time Killing Strategies".

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Games are perfect for during COVID-19

　A super free society is a tremendously sporty society. A time of dazzling entertainment, academics, romance, and sports comes when you are super free. It is fun because we move our bodies and sweat. It is not very exciting to watch robots fighting each other. Sweat it out. Sweat it out. Clench the sweat in your hands. Clench the sweat in your hands. Yes, let's create sports. 

e-Sports is the new sport of the information society. There are a wide variety of genres such as fighting, car racing, soccer, and strategy games. With professional players emerging, and it also becoming a club activity at schools, it is likely to become a popular and well-known sport on par with baseball and soccer.

Expectations are high for the industry, and In 2017, the global market was $1.5 billion, a x1.5 growth rate in five years. The audience is expected to grow from 260 million of which it is today, to 560 million in 5 years.

　It has come to be recognized as a sport, and has been chosen as an official event at the 2022 Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou, China. In 2018, it was held as an exhibition event at the Asian Games in Jakarta (Jakarta Palembang 2018). Naoki Sugimura of Kinki University and Tsubasa Aihara of Okinawa Ikei N Senior High School, won gold medals in the soccer game "Winning Eleven". In Japan, an inter-prefectural competition was held at the 2019 Ibaraki National Athletic Meet.

　It is also expected to become an official Olympic event, and it is rumored to be held at the earliest at Paris 2024, and at the latest at Los Angeles 2028. A tournament will also be held at the Tokyo Olympics. If you are good at games, you can represent your country and win a gold medal to become a hero, and a professional. 

Throughout the world, the United States and South Korea have grown to become the home of gaming over the past 20 years. Japan, despite being a major gaming nation, has been lagging behind when it comes to e-Sports. It's market size makes up one-fifteenth of the world's market, and the number of players in Japan make up one-twentieth of the number of players in the world. 

　The main reason for this is that Japan was a major gaming nation. Nintendo and Sony, the giants of video game consoles, dominated the world market in the 1980s and 1990s, but these were made for household TVs. The world was trending towards games for PCs and the Internet. Japan experienced too much success, and was late to engage in online coetitive gaming.

　But in 2018, Japan celebrated its first year of e-Sports, and the industry had begun to grow as it had overcome two major obstacles - prize money regulations and the proliferation of organizations. The regulation in the Act Against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations, which limits prize money for amateurs to ¥100,000, has made it difficult to hold large-scale tournaments. There are three e-Sports organizations, and their unification has been deemed a condition for their membership in the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

　In 2018, the three organizations were first merged to form the Japan e-Sports Union (JeSU). JeSPA, of which I served as a director, was also dissolved and merged. I did so well I lost my job. JeSU issues professional licenses which will overcome the restrictions on prize money under the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations. Professional teams and large tournaments funded by corporations will be set up, as an environment has been created in which companies can invest their funds with confidence. A complex equation has been solved. [Complicated Game] (XTC).

　In response, Sega, mixi, and other companies began full-scale development in the same year, while the J-League and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) also held leagues. Yoshimoto Kogyo opened its base, "YOSHIMOTO∞DOME" in Shibuya, and TV stations such as Nittele (Nippon TV), Fuji, and TBS also began to produce programs. The Mainichi Newspapers held the "All Japan High School e-Sports Championship", and NTT established NTTe-Sports.

However, there is a large gap with developed countries such as the United States. Twitch, a company which broadcasts e-Sports and was acquired by Amazon for ¥100 billion, has reached a global audience of 10 million viewers per day, and boasts the second highest traffic throughout all of the United States after Netflix and YouTube.

　According to the the National Association of Collegiate e-Sports, there are more than 80 colleges in the United States and Canada with e-Sports programs. The University of Utah in the United States offers complete exemption of tuition to teams participating in "League of Legends". The University of California, Irvine, a public institution, has set up a 325 ㎡ arena for gaming.

　South Korea is also making efforts with CJ Media Inc., setting up Korea's largest stadium dedicated to e-Sports in Seoul's Digital Media City DMC, a town created through industry-government collaboration by the Korean government and Seoul. Matches are arranged on a daily basis in the 650-seat venue, and broadcast via cable TV and internet. They are sponsored by KT, Samsung, and other telecommunications, IT, and manufacturing companies. 

Japan also wants to do something. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and JeSU opened an "Investigative Commission for Vitalizing e-Sports" and compiled a report, which was probably the first government report on e-Sports in the world. I chaired the meeting. From Kasumigaseki, in addition to Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the intellectual Property Headquarters, Cabinet Office; the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications; the Consumer Affairs Agency; and the Sports Agency of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology also participated, so the government also appreciates the situation.

For the market size of e-Sports, the direct market will see a x16 increase from ¥4.4 billion, where it is currently, to ¥70 billion in 2025. Including spillover markets such as food and beverage, sale of goods, and education, the current ¥34 billion will grow to ¥300 billion by 2025. In Japan, e-Sports fans account for 8% of the gaming market. The strategy is to increase this to 47%, to be on par with South Korea, and to increase the number of e-Sports fans to about 25 million, to match professional baseball.

COVID-19 is advancing gaming, which is a pastime that creates communication with other people, without having physical contact with them. That's why games are perfect for during COVID-19. You can shut yourself in at home and relieve stress. The World Health Organization (WHO), which has regarded gaming as its enemy, has also changed its attitude, and is now advocating e-Sports. Viewing time has also increased dramatically, and online events have skyrocketed as well.

With real-life sports tournaments being canceled, existing sports are utilizing e-Sports as an alternative. United States basketball, the NBA, held a tournament in which Kevin Durant, Rui Hachimura, and others participated to demonstrate their gaming skills, and in Formula 1's "Virtual Australian Grand Prix," Charles Leclerc of Ferrari participated for the first time and unexpectedly won the race. Professional tennis has also held e-Sports tournaments, with currently active players such as Rafael Nadal taking part.

　With 5G now in full swing, the decentralization of e-Sports, which by its nature does not not allow for any lagging and has naturally been held at real venues, allows people to play each other and have battles on their smartphones in various parts of the world. Gaming is using the cloud system, and titles of e-Sports competitions, the methods of having matches, the viewing methods, and the way in which competitions are held seem likely to change. How will Japan, where the industry is finally starting to get up and running, make the most of these changes in the environment that are progressing simultaneously?

Focusing on e-Sports not only as an industry, but also as a culture and a public benefit, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry/JeSU report recommends that efforts in the field of education are important. To embody this, JeSU, iU, and others have collaborated to establish "Super e-Sports School", a community made up of experts, researchers, and schools, from universities to elementary schools, that are interested in introducing e-Sports into education.

Japan's e-Sports are at the starting line, with the future ahead. 

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I tried to revive my eyes with shiritsu.

■ I tried to revive my eyes with shiritsu.

I had eye surgery performed.

I can see well.The world has changed.

So this is how everyone saw.

Fresh green that covers Higashiyama.

The blue head of a male duck floating under the Togetsu Bridge.

Fushimi's vermillion torii gates.

The gold of the phoenix enshrined on the roof of Byodo-in Temple.

Was the vague, white-filtered screen so far a lie?

It became HD in terrestrial digital, and I can't go back to SD anymore.

When it comes to 4K, you can't go back to HD.

I have to reconsider the scenery that I once felt vaguely beautiful.

Pardon Festival in Brittany.

Countless fireflies flying at night on Bintan Island.

A rustic village in the Cotswolds.

Labyrinth of Fez.

Lake Misurina in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Buenos Aires Caminito district, colorful streets.

But you can also see things that shouldn't be seen.

My reflection in the mirror is so wrinkled.

There is so much dust in the corner of the room.

The office wallpaper here was surprisingly cheap.

You lose something by increasing the resolution.

Is it evolution?

Haven't you ever been excited just because there is a mosaic?

Shiritsu is a cataract treatment.

Although it is called shiritsu, it takes about 15 minutes per eye.

They pulled out the natural lens with something like a syringe,

Inserting an artificial lens with a syringe-like object.

Technology.

I am a man-machine unity with an embedded creation.

Compared to the before, the after is superhuman.

As a superhuman who has enhanced vision with technology, there is French 003 Françoise Arnoule.

Sometimes I can see the unintended battlefield situation and suffer.

German 004 Albert Heinrich has a sighting eye.

The right hand is a machine gun, the left hand is a shuriken, and the thigh is a missile. It's the eyes that have to fight.

If you can become superhuman in 15 minutes, you can become even more superhuman if you work hard.

Strengthen your limbs and brain.

Shohei Ohtani's four-seamer.

Naomi Osaka’s bullet serve.

Hideki Matsuyama's 1W shot.

It makes me think that even I can do it.

Superhuman sports has become a reality.

What I got more than that is the feeling that I can make up for what I lost in the previous years.

By the time I entered the workforce, my eyesight was 2.0, and I could see much better than others.

The world must have been clearer than it is now.

It gradually started to blur and came to the point where it was below 0.1.

Because it was gradual, I didn't have much trouble.

When I took a test when I changed jobs, my eyes caught my attention, aged and weakened. However, it was precisely because I had aged that I caught on and regained it.

That's what it is.

Rikako Ikee has recovered from leukemia. I didn't have such a hard time or effort, but I was revived with cataracts.

With the evolution of technology, the body is remodeled, and the world becomes both beautiful and dirty.

It makes us anticipate the superhumanization of the future and evokes the glories of the past.

This is what I felt during the two 15-minute sessions where I shook and shook.

If there is a change in reality, I will report it again.

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