Tokyo, 15 March, /AJMEDIA
Akihabara is a must-visit spot for anyone who considers themselves a fan of anime, games or cool electronics; heck, even those who are ambivalent to all of the above usually leave space in their Tokyo itinerary to check out the Electric Town at least once.
But travelling is expensive, and the coronavirus has made visiting Japan from abroad almost impossible. But now you don’t even need to get on an airplane to experience all the joys that Akihabara has to bring, because you can visit it for free via your smartphone.
Japanese railway company JR East recently announced their plans for a virtual reality version of Akihabara Station, in collaboration with VR event planning company Hikki and cellphone operators NTT Docomo. The project, called ‘Virtual Akiba World (VAW)‘ aims to create a virtual reality world where users can interact with each other and their surroundings, also known as a metaverse.
Virtual Akiba World is a virtual reproduction of Akihabara Station and the surrounding area. In VAW, users can go through ticket gates, get on trains and interact with other users, all without needing to download an app. Users can also go shopping in the metaverse, and any purchases they make online can be picked up offline, as seen in the promotional video below.
VAW also hopes to expand the metaverse further in the future with potential collaborations with Japan Racing Association and clothing store Beams.
Visitors to the Virtual Akiba World can expect to be greeted a host of characters synonymous with Japanese pop culture, such as Shin Godzilla, Eva-01 and Kamen Rider to name a few.
