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The Bridge’s guide to VR hotspots in Tokyo (2017 new year edition)

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo’s Shibuya, aka Bit Valley, has long been the home of Japanese startups, with FinTech stationed in Otemachi, hardware in Akihabara, bioscience in Nihonbashi, and so on, but it appears startup hubs are popping up all over the place. So, I wondered where hot topic sectors like virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality related startups are gathering, thus the topic for this article was born. A number of VR arcades have appeared in Seoul and Shanghai and they play a role in introducing VR to general (not VR-savvy or VR-enthusiast) consumers. According to experts, in the US it seems that VR startups are starting to gather around Silicon Beach LA, from Santa Clara which is very near Hollywood (the mecca of the video and entertainment industry) to Venice Beach. In London they are appearing in Shoreditch, an area of Tech City. Is this where Tokyo’s VR startup hubs will gather? I walked around the city over the New Year while mulling this over. Future Tech Hub, an incubation facility specializing in VR, newly opened in December Future Tech Hub is Japan’s first incubation facility specialized in VR, as well as a coworking space…

Image credit: theendup / 123RF + bee32 / 123RF

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo’s Shibuya, aka Bit Valley, has long been the home of Japanese startups, with FinTech stationed in Otemachi, hardware in Akihabara, bioscience in Nihonbashi, and so on, but it appears startup hubs are popping up all over the place. So, I wondered where hot topic sectors like virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality related startups are gathering, thus the topic for this article was born.

A number of VR arcades have appeared in Seoul and Shanghai and they play a role in introducing VR to general (not VR-savvy or VR-enthusiast) consumers. According to experts, in the US it seems that VR startups are starting to gather around Silicon Beach LA, from Santa Clara which is very near Hollywood (the mecca of the video and entertainment industry) to Venice Beach. In London they are appearing in Shoreditch, an area of Tech City.

Is this where Tokyo’s VR startup hubs will gather? I walked around the city over the New Year while mulling this over.

Future Tech Hub, an incubation facility specializing in VR, newly opened in December

VR startups working hard at Future Tech Hub
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

Future Tech Hub is Japan’s first incubation facility specialized in VR, as well as a coworking space and opened December 14. It is 5 minutes walking from Kayabacho station. In addition to investing in The Venture Reality Fund, they are operated jointly by Gumi (TSE: 3903) and Breakpoint. Gumi is managed by Tokyo VR Startups, an incubator specializing in VR. Breakpoint has been developing incubation facilities in Tokyo since 2004.

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Tokyo VR Startups regularly develop incubation batches, with the Future Tech Hub raising VR startups until they can participate in these batches, the goal being to produce graduates capable of renting their own offices, creating a mutually beneficial relationship. According to Yasuchika Wakayama, CEO of Breakpoint, leading Japanese VR startups Yomuneco (led by journalist Kiyoshi Shin who has written numerous books related to the gaming industry) and Ouka-Ichimon (offering content production and consulting service specializing in the Oculus VR head-mounted display) have set up operations bases there.

Breakpoint CEO Yasuchika Wakayama (right) and Tokyo VR Startups’ Tatsuya Kurohama (left)
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

The theme of incubation is how to raise the business value of a startup in its early stage. Information about what kinds of hardware and software are up and coming filters down to us through our networks and we believe this could be helpful for startups.

Wakayama remarked.

On top of that, one the biggest advantages Silicon Valley has is the close proximity of startups and the market. For example, when an entrepreneur needs to meet with someone from Google to inspect their product, they can do it immediately. And they’ll know who to talk with at Pixar. We want to be able to provide this kind of information and create a similar environment.

He continued.

(In the context of open innovation) We are also getting inquiries from major Japanese companies. We are gathering information on what big companies are looking for in startups so, in turn, startups will be able to launch the products that the market wants more efficiently.

High-spec machines and an area to perform test and demonstrations are necessary when developing VR. At Future Tech Hub they have Galleria gaming computers produced by Thirdwave, HTC Vive from HTC, and cloud services from Amazon Web Services. Tenant startups can use these resources free of charge. Since the studio space for chroma key can be shared by several companies it is also economical.

Among the VR related materials placed by the entrance, there are also documents written by tenants.
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

From Future Tech Hub it is a five minute walk along the Nihonbashi River to the Tokyo VR Startups base of operations, and it is expected that the two will share more than just close proximity. They have the power to function as a coworking space, but they have set the conditions for becoming a tenant high in seeking those that will contribute greatly to the VR startup community. Currently there are four corporations and one individual in fixed seats, with three more corporations in free seats and they want to increase this to 30 teams by the end of the year.

Gumi, which is jointly managing Future Tech Lab indirectly, is also jointly developing an incubation program in Korea called Seoul VR Startups. One foreseeable outcome is that VR startups from Korea in Japan using Future Tech Lab as their base.

VR Space

VR Space’s Co-founder and Executive Producer Akihito Ninomiya (left)
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

While our event space / live streaming studio The Bridge X is situated in Shibuya 2-chome, near Aoyama Gakuin University, at nearly the same time we moved our base there, the VR experience space VR Space opened in the same area. It is produced by serial entrepreneur Akihito Ninomiya, who previously operated the Talentio recruitment service (the hatch that operated Talentio was acquired by Ximera  in September 2015).

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VR Space offers 6 booths, each with various VR gaming experiences using HTC Vive. (Currently, they are not licensed to use Oculus Rift, which is not available for direct sales to consumers; only HTC Vive is available.) They are in a favorable location facing Aoyama Street, with couples stopping in on dates, and groups of company employees dropping by for a little recreation. Foreign users have also increased, and recently it seems they had to prepare Chinese manuals and customer guides in a rush.

A portion of the VR titles installed on the machine
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

For Ninomiya, VR Space is not only an arcade, but can also be used as a marketing base for developers of VR content, with the expectation that they could create a scale based on the consulting revenue from the B2B business.

Tech Lab Paak, The Roots, and VR Park Tokyo

Outside of VR Park Tokyo
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

Recruit Holdings (TSE: 6098) opened its Acceleration Course specializing in VR from the 6th batch of last year’s Tech Lab Paak startup accelerator in Shibuya. Readers may recall that a number of VR startups were introduced during the demo day for the 6th batch.

Additionally, Colopl Next, which is a fund specializing in VR, has developed an incubation space called The Roots in Shibuya.  Although The Roots is especially for student entrepreneurship support and is not necessarily a facility for VR startups, some kind of synergy may be expected between the fund specializing in VR and the VR startups they invest in.

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Gree (TSE: 3632), a major internet service provider, along with Adores (TSE: 4712), a big name game center operator, opened the VR arcade VR Park Tokyo in Shibuya in December of last year to showcase attractions developed jointly by both companies. In November of 2015, Gree opened Gree VR Studio as a department specializing in the development of VR content, and it appears that the new titles created there can be experienced in Shibuya first. As we could not arrange an interview in time for this article, the interview released by the Japan Times has been posted below.

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

Larry Ellison talks about why data collection and use is not inherently bad

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This is a part of our coverage of the Japan New Economy Summit 2014. You can follow our updates on Twitter as well at @thebridge_e. Last year the Japan New Economy Summit in Tokyo featured a number of interesting speakers from the international tech community (see our coverage here), and this year is no different, with Oracle CEO Larry Ellison opening day one with a keynote session that. He talked about data privacy, and gave a reasoned defense of data collection and use, condemning those who irrationally criticize the technology. Below are some selected highlights from his talk, recorded not quite verbatim, but close to it: I’d like to talk about data privacy in the age of the internet and cloud computing. Let me start with two words: Edward Snowden. He tells us that our government is collecting enormous amounts of information about us. ¶ Ellison notes that no one has named a single individual/example of this data being misused. Yet. No one is saying the government records our phone conversations, but what it does record is who I called and who called me. Snowden said we should be very worried. He left the democracy of the US and went…

ellison

This is a part of our coverage of the Japan New Economy Summit 2014. You can follow our updates on Twitter as well at @thebridge_e.

Last year the Japan New Economy Summit in Tokyo featured a number of interesting speakers from the international tech community (see our coverage here), and this year is no different, with Oracle CEO Larry Ellison opening day one with a keynote session that. He talked about data privacy, and gave a reasoned defense of data collection and use, condemning those who irrationally criticize the technology. Below are some selected highlights from his talk, recorded not quite verbatim, but close to it:

I’d like to talk about data privacy in the age of the internet and cloud computing. Let me start with two words: Edward Snowden. He tells us that our government is collecting enormous amounts of information about us.

Ellison notes that no one has named a single individual/example of this data being misused. Yet.

No one is saying the government records our phone conversations, but what it does record is who I called and who called me. Snowden said we should be very worried. He left the democracy of the US and went to Moscow – a bastion of free speech (smiles) – and told us that we should be concerned about our government. That they are spying on us.

Privacy and the age of the internet is not a technology issue at all. If you want us to keep all your personal information private we know how to do that. We can encrypt voice, data, we can guarantee that no one can spy on you. And you the people can decide if that’s what you want.

In my country, the government is thinking of telling the NSA to mend their ways, because the people are putting pressure on the government. That’s the good thing about being an American, to have the ability to change the government. It is your decision. Our databases our technology can make sure that it is impossible to break in and decrypt that data. It’s simply a matter of what you want.

Edward Snowden has yet to name a single person who has been harmed by the collection of this data. […] Maybe that will happen in the future. […] Airplanes have been misused, but it doesn’t mean we should stop building airplanes. Every technology can be misused. Imagine the first caveman who discovered technology. […] It’s a fabulous technology. But there’s one guy in the cave who said, no no no, fire is dangerous. People will be burned at the stake. We have to stop fire now. My point is every technology can be misused.

Larry Ellison

We shouldn’t ban the gathering of data, but rather we should punish those who misuse it.

Let’s look at history. Do you really want to keep all your data private? I don’t think so. I think you are anxious to share the most intimate details of your life for something of value. I believe you would be willing to tell me where you work, how much you own on your car, where you went shopping last week (lists many examples) — I believe you would be happy to give me all that data about you, as long as I would be willing to give you, for example, a credit card. And that’s exactly what you did. You disclosed all the details about your family’s financial life in order to make shopping easier. But it’s interesting how much privacy we are willing to trade away to make shopping more convenient. […] It eased commerce. It stimulated the economy. It made us much wealthier. It allowed banks to extend loans in the fraction of a second.

That’s one example. Let me give you another example. I believe you would name all your friends, put pictures of you aunts and uncles online, put pictures of yourself on vacation. You disclose all those details voluntarily, in exchange for being a member of Facebook. Your trading an incredible amount of personal information, to see pictures of your kids in college, you get a little bit closer to your family and friends, and you willing give up enormous amounts of privacy as part of that deal.

You’re going to give me a complete map of your DNA and you’re going to do it voluntarily. You’ll give me every medical record on you, every test you took, you’ll want me to take it all. Every excruciating detail about your health. You can choose to give it and you can choose to hold it. You can dislose your health records on an individual basis just like you can join Facebook or not join Facebook. Let’s say you have high cholesterol, wouldn’t it be nice if he could go into the database and see what drug works best for people with the same genome characteristics as you? The only want to get that would be to disclose your details. To opt in. Wouldn’t you like your doctor to have that information. It would have your government a lot of money as well. You stay out of hospital, you can go to work. Your insurance company doesn’t have to pay. By sharing there are enormous benefits to you and society as a whole.

What is the government trying to do? They are trying to prevent terrorism, trying to connect the dots. Is it worth trading a little of your phone bill in exchange for preventing another 9/11 in New York City?

We can decide what we want to do with this technology that is neither inherently good nor inherently bad. We decide how much of this privacy we trade off for safety. It’s very different than in Russia where Mr. Snowden now lives.

Tokyo 24-hour bus service to offer complimentary wi-fi

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The Tokyo Bureau of Transportation announced several months ago that it would start its first 24-hour bus service in Tokyo, connecting Roppongi and Shibuya, two busy commercial districts that never sleep. Coinciding with the launch on December 20th, the bureau announced today it will offer in-bus wi-fi service to passengers for free. Looking ahead to the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020, this might be part of the government’s efforts to make the city more usable for foreign visitors, given that international data roaming charges are so high. Many public transit operators in Japan are deploying in-train or in-bus wi-fi equipment to serve passengers better. But most of them require a subscription to a wi-fi service provider, and that’s likely troublesome for most visitors coming to Japan. The bureau’s in-bus wi-fi service is available for any passengers, and allowing them to enjoy internet browsing for up to 180 minutes in a single session. Deployment of the equipment will be completed on all 1,452 buses by next March.

busterminal-in-shibuya
Photo by yoppy on Flickr, creative commons.

The Tokyo Bureau of Transportation announced several months ago that it would start its first 24-hour bus service in Tokyo, connecting Roppongi and Shibuya, two busy commercial districts that never sleep. Coinciding with the launch on December 20th, the bureau announced today it will offer in-bus wi-fi service to passengers for free.

toei-bus-free-wifi

Looking ahead to the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020, this might be part of the government’s efforts to make the city more usable for foreign visitors, given that international data roaming charges are so high. Many public transit operators in Japan are deploying in-train or in-bus wi-fi equipment to serve passengers better. But most of them require a subscription to a wi-fi service provider, and that’s likely troublesome for most visitors coming to Japan.

The bureau’s in-bus wi-fi service is available for any passengers, and allowing them to enjoy internet browsing for up to 180 minutes in a single session.

Deployment of the equipment will be completed on all 1,452 buses by next March.

Apple’s new iPhone 5C and 5s start hot in Japan [Photos]

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It’s opening weekend for Apple’s new iPhone 5C and 5S here in Japan. And I was curious to see that even on a very hot Sunday morning there were perhaps a hundred people lined up at the Apple Store in Shibuya, even though it’s the third day that they’ve been on sale. You can check out more pictures below. Now that the iPhone is on NTT Docomo , Apple’s presence in Japan has significant room to grow. The carrier has 55 million mobile subscribers, and has finally given up on their aspirations to crapwarify the popular handset with their vision of a ‘lifestyle system’. But clearly customers want something different, as Docomo’s flagship Galaxy S4 has disappointed. With a population that is both very health- and fashion- conscious, expect the new iPhone 5S to do especially well in Japan, with the fashionable gold model and the new M7 motion coprocessor bringing new kinds of fitness apps to the platform.

apple-store-japan-iphone-5s-5c-launch16

It’s opening weekend for Apple’s new iPhone 5C and 5S here in Japan. And I was curious to see that even on a very hot Sunday morning there were perhaps a hundred people lined up at the Apple Store in Shibuya, even though it’s the third day that they’ve been on sale. You can check out more pictures below.

Now that the iPhone is on NTT Docomo , Apple’s presence in Japan has significant room to grow. The carrier has 55 million mobile subscribers, and has finally given up on their aspirations to crapwarify the popular handset with their vision of a ‘lifestyle system’.

But clearly customers want something different, as Docomo’s flagship Galaxy S4 has disappointed.

With a population that is both very health- and fashion- conscious, expect the new iPhone 5S to do especially well in Japan, with the fashionable gold model and the new M7 motion coprocessor bringing new kinds of fitness apps to the platform.

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Tokyo’s iPad-powered bars remember your favorite drinks

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A new bar just opened yesterday in Tokyo’s busy Shibuya district, bringing with it a new digital solution that could disrupt the bar industry. It’s called LogBar, and was founded by entrepreneurial programmers Takuro Yoshida and Takayuki Yamazaki. When you step inside the bar, you receive an iPad upon which you should sign in with a username and password. Every order of beverages, alcohol, and appetizers is to be made on the iPad. You can also interact with bartenders and other customers on the app, which have been specifically designed for the bar. The app allows you to check what the other customers have ordered and to throw them a ‘like’ as well. The two founders are not satisfied with developing digital-centric solutions, but wanted to explore digital solution opportunities by connecting online to offline. By accumulating your orders on the app, your drink preference will be stored on the system, so you might see a suggested drink that suits your tastes at a participating bar in the network, even if it’s your first time there. Their bars are located at two locations in Shibuya, but are open only on Monday evenings. Traditionally, the best bars are the ones where…

logbar_entranceA new bar just opened yesterday in Tokyo’s busy Shibuya district, bringing with it a new digital solution that could disrupt the bar industry. It’s called LogBar, and was founded by entrepreneurial programmers Takuro Yoshida and Takayuki Yamazaki.

When you step inside the bar, you receive an iPad upon which you should sign in with a username and password. Every order of beverages, alcohol, and appetizers is to be made on the iPad. You can also interact with bartenders and other customers on the app, which have been specifically designed for the bar. The app allows you to check what the other customers have ordered and to throw them a ‘like’ as well.

logbarapp_screenshotThe two founders are not satisfied with developing digital-centric solutions, but wanted to explore digital solution opportunities by connecting online to offline. By accumulating your orders on the app, your drink preference will be stored on the system, so you might see a suggested drink that suits your tastes at a participating bar in the network, even if it’s your first time there. Their bars are located at two locations in Shibuya, but are open only on Monday evenings.

Traditionally, the best bars are the ones where bartenders remember customers’ preferences, and customers might often frequent establishments where they enjoy chatting with the bar staff. This is why many consider the bar industry to be one of the most difficult sectors in which to develop a franchise business. But with this new technology, you might find that a bar you’ve never been inside before could know your name and favorite drink in advance!

logbar_ipad_and_cocktail

Google Maps adds spectacular 45-degree aerial view to select Japanese cities

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Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has announced that it has added Tokyo, Kawasaki, Chiba, and Sendai to the list of cities worldwide that have the slick 45-degree aerial view feature. Somewhat similar to Apple’s touted ‘flyover’ feature, this view was initially rolled out in 37 US cities as well as 14 international cities last year. Now on Google Maps you can check out iconic locations such as Tokyo Tower or even the new Tokyo Skytree from a 45-degree vantage point. As you can see in the pictures below, the view looks pretty amazing. The 45-degree perspective doesn’t appear right away, but once you’ve zoomed into a certain level, it suddenly kicks in. Eye-candy aside, this is actually a pretty practical feature, especially if you’re trying to scout out a new place you plan to visit. I find myself often confused when visiting some stations, so I expect to make use of it often [1[. You might also want to check out Google’s Streetview compilation of cherry blossom viewing spots. Trees are just starting to bloom in Japan, so if you’d like to scout a spot near you for this weekend, this is a fun resource to explore! Sometimes it feels a little like…

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has announced that it has added Tokyo, Kawasaki, Chiba, and Sendai to the list of cities worldwide that have the slick 45-degree aerial view feature. Somewhat similar to Apple’s touted ‘flyover’ feature, this view was initially rolled out in 37 US cities as well as 14 international cities last year.

Now on Google Maps you can check out iconic locations such as Tokyo Tower or even the new Tokyo Skytree from a 45-degree vantage point. As you can see in the pictures below, the view looks pretty amazing. The 45-degree perspective doesn’t appear right away, but once you’ve zoomed into a certain level, it suddenly kicks in.

tokyo-tower-google-maps

tokyo-skytree-google-maps

Eye-candy aside, this is actually a pretty practical feature, especially if you’re trying to scout out a new place you plan to visit. I find myself often confused when visiting some stations, so I expect to make use of it often [1[.

You might also want to check out Google’s Streetview compilation of cherry blossom viewing spots. Trees are just starting to bloom in Japan, so if you’d like to scout a spot near you for this weekend, this is a fun resource to explore!


  1. Sometimes it feels a little like Mario Bros, coming up in a strange new world after traveling around in a series of pipes. ↩