Hans O. Karlsson
Hello, Immersive World!
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My name is Hans Karlsson, and I'm a veteran of the virtual reality industry and Japan. My first visit to Japan was in 1986, and I've been living here permanently since 1989. During that time, I primarily worked in the media but also spent a few years in Tokyo's academic community (that was also media related, however). From the moment I landed, I knew I had to tell people back home what it was really like to live in Japan. That's why I went into the media in the first place, starting at NHK World Radio. For seventeen years, I was a voice who commented on Japanese life and culture. After that, I got a job doing research at Meiji University, where I helped introduce a forgotten area in old Tokyo to foreigners via immersive audio.
Many years later, in the rural Japanese town of Tajimi, I came across a medium that could take my mind literally anywhere. Collisions, a 360-degree virtual reality film about the aftermath of an atomic bomb test in the South Pacific, reduced me to tears. The old aboriginal's tale moved me to tears in a way I had never felt before, and it was the first time I had ever felt mentally present in the same space as somebody thousands of kilometres away.
Many years later, in the rural Japanese town of Tajimi, I came across a medium that could take my mind literally anywhere. Collisions, a 360-degree virtual reality film about the aftermath of an atomic bomb test in the South Pacific, reduced me to tears. The old aboriginal's tale moved me to tears in a way I had never felt before, and it was the first time I had ever felt mentally present in the same space as somebody thousands of kilometres away.
The Metaverse is all about face-to-face meetings over any distance
Even though you can't talk to a movie character, it was the first time I felt like I really knew someone far away. The magical phenomenon of presence, of being able to feel like you are in the same room as a person without the need for physical proximity, is what the metaverse is all about for me. Although being there in person is usually the best way for a person to get a feel for a location, sometimes that just isn't an option. The virtual reality experience has opened my eyes to the potential of taking Japan beyond its borders. Rather than trying to replicate the in-person encounter, we're working to make it more convenient and accessible.
We were blessed by the opportunity to start doing this at an early stage when our new company, Mimir, was asked by the local Tourism Association in Tajimi to tour people around the city in VR and guide them through the tea ceremony in a fantasy samurai world in space—both social VR experiences. Since then, we have expanded into more advanced content creation, including the production of some of the best 3D models of cultural heritage items and buildings in Japan.
We built a replica of a real-world Zen temple on the Engage platform, where people are able to meet the abbot in avatar form, as well as a national treasure. And this is still only the beginning.
We were blessed by the opportunity to start doing this at an early stage when our new company, Mimir, was asked by the local Tourism Association in Tajimi to tour people around the city in VR and guide them through the tea ceremony in a fantasy samurai world in space—both social VR experiences. Since then, we have expanded into more advanced content creation, including the production of some of the best 3D models of cultural heritage items and buildings in Japan.
We built a replica of a real-world Zen temple on the Engage platform, where people are able to meet the abbot in avatar form, as well as a national treasure. And this is still only the beginning.
Born 1959, but still love to get physical in my favourite PC VR game!
The Metaverse is still in its infancy. Better put, it is still to be born. But we know it's coming. There exist many virtual worlds already, however they are not interconnected or interoperable like the Web today. The gaming world is at the forefront in the development of new, fantastical experiences that we could not even dream of ten, or even five years ago.
One such experience is the Eye of the Temple, created by my fellow Scandinavian Rune Skovbo Johansen.
One such experience is the Eye of the Temple, created by my fellow Scandinavian Rune Skovbo Johansen.
"Eye of the Temple is a VR game that lets you explore a vast and treacherous temple using your own feet. Keep your balance as you step from one moving block to another, dodging traps and solving puzzles with your torch and whip in hand."
Yes, you are actually walking around in this temple world physically! I hope to report from within this temple world in the near future. What better way could there be to illustrate what spatial computing really is like?
Yes, you are actually walking around in this temple world physically! I hope to report from within this temple world in the near future. What better way could there be to illustrate what spatial computing really is like?
My YouTube videos about the Metaverse
To learn more about our work, please come and visit our YouTube channel, where I talk about the Metaverse and the Zen temple we are building. Many of the videos are subtitled in English.
