Augmented Reality Tour for Natori City, Miyagi, Japan - One of the Most Tsunami-Stricken Areas

Miyagi Nogyo High School to Hold an Augmented Reality Tour for Natori City, Miyagi, Japan – One of the Most Tsunami-Stricken Areas — The Idea That Won the Grand Prize in the Kanko Koshien Tourism Award Has Come True

NATORI, Japan– Miyagi Nogyo High School (Miyagi Agricultural High School) has been developing an AR glasses project along with dmp Inc., for the NATORI AR HOPE TOUR which is to learn how Natori city, in Miyagi, Japan, was affected by the tsunami of the Great East Japan Earthquake. For the official service starting in the 2015 fiscal year, Miyagi Nogyo High School will hold a tour on Sunday, 15 March 2015, for guests of the Asia Resilience Forum, one of the public forums of the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.

Overview of the NATORI AR HOPE TOUR

The Concept of this project is providing an experience of the past, present, and future of Natori city through Augmented Reality (AR). The tour shows not only the tragedy of the disaster but also the hope that the local youngsters hold for the future.

Visitors are able to vividly experience their tour in the tsunami-stricken area through the AR content whilst guides called Kataribe, firsthand storytellers, provide interpretation.

The AR content features:

A display of information that links to interpretations of Kataribe
The scenery of Mt. Hiyori before and after the disaster
A picture of an imaginary cherry tree in full bloom by the Teizan Canal in the future

Background

The idea of using of AR content to show the past, present and future of Yuriage, Natori for a tour was produced by some students from Miyagi Nogyo High School. This idea won the grand prize in Kanko Koshien, which is a nationwide contest for high school students to come up with new ideas for sightseeing projects for their local areas.

The school requested to work with dmp Inc. through Natori City Government and the Tourism and Products Association of Natori City and has been developing the AR application and a marketable tour. Fortunately, they have received device support including AR glasses from SONY Corporation. There have been a couple of tours using AR glasses in Japan already, however, this is going to be the first tour with AR glasses in the whole disaster-stricken area of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

About the Tour

Date: Monday, 15 March 2015, 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. (JST)
Place: Area from Yuriage Junior High School to Mt. Hiyori., in Natori City, Miyagi
Organization: Asia Resilience Forum
Cooperation: dmp Inc., Toneconnect Corp.
Device Support: SONY Corporation

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Miyagi Nogyo High School
Headteacher: Eichi Sasaki
1 Aza-higashi-kongoji, Takadategawa, Natori City, Miyagi, 9811243 JAPAN

dmp Inc.
CEO: Atsunobu Kobayashi
8th fl., Sendai Chuo Bldg.
2-8-18, Ichibancho, Aoba-ku, Sendai City, Miyagi, Japan

Sample Images