On July 12, Gotemba City, Shizuoka Prefecture, and KDDI announced a joint effort to promote the appeal of climbing Mt.
The two parties have previously worked together to resolve issues related to tourism to Mt. Fuji in the Corona Disaster, but this initiative will take those efforts a step further by utilizing KDDI’s satellite communications, virtual reality (VR) and other technologies.
Fuji, network cameras, Starlink communication antennas, and weather sensors are installed in mountain huts near the eighth station of Mt. Fuji, and live-streaming the images along with temperatures and wind speeds at the fifth station and on the website.
This year, the number of climbers is expected to increase significantly due to the shift of the new type of coronavirus infection to category 5 infection, and among other problems, new climbers and foreign tourists who are unaware of the severity of climbing Mt. Fuji are attempting to climb the mountain with light clothing. Fuji, we aim to convey the reality of the situation, prevent an increase in the number of rescue calls, and raise awareness of the importance of safe climbing Mt.
As for the use of VR technology, a demonstration experiment will be conducted in the form of a bus tour from Tokyo to Gotemba City. Participants will wear smart glasses on the bus and receive explanations from local staff while viewing images of tourist attractions in Gotemba City. Participants then select one of four pre-defined courses and actually visit the destination.
FUJI TRAIL STATION at the new fifth station of Mt. Fuji’s Gotemba Exit on March 12. The presentation was attended by Mr. Masami Katsumata, Mayor of Gotemba City, and Mr. Toshimitsu Shimazaki, General Manager of KDDI’s Chubu General Branch Office.
Katsumata said, “Last year, despite the Corona disaster, over 63,000 people came to the trail station (at the fifth station), and the number of tourist visitors was the largest ever, around 39,000. This year, the positioning of Corona has changed, and even more people will come to Mt. Fuji,” he said, while expressing his expectations, “We are concerned about the increase in the number of dangerous climbers this year, such as bullet climbers and lightly equipped climbers. Fuji this year, we are concerned about the increase in the number of bullet climbers and dangerous climbers equipped with light equipment. The city considers it very important to raise awareness and disseminate information to ensure safe climbing of Mt.
Mr. Shimazaki introduced the city’s efforts to utilize cutting-edge technology, such as the translation cabs for foreign tourists (2019) and virtual guides (2021) to decentralize tourism in the Corona Disaster, which have been implemented through a comprehensive partnership agreement with the city, as well as the company’s efforts to develop communication areas in mountainous areas, including Mt. Fuji and other mountainous areas.
The city has been discussing this initiative since the second half of last year regarding the issues it faces. Last year, the city received 20 to 30 rescue requests from climbers, and they realized that preventing such situations from occurring in advance was a major issue and decided to address it.
Fuji is a major tourist resource for Gotemba City, but other tourist attractions were not as well known. The “au Visual Guide” solution had already been developed for remote guided tours using smart glasses, but this time, while envisioning use in a moving sightseeing bus, the solution was expanded to use 360-degree images and communication technology to enable communication with local guides. The new solution has been expanded to use 360-degree images and to enable communication with local guides using communication technology, while assuming use in moving sightseeing buses.
The actual tour will be conducted on August 19 for 20 monitored participants recruited through social networking sites, and we were able to experience the contents of the tour.
Participants will be lent XREAL smart glasses “XREAL Air (Nreal Air)” and smart phones on the bus, and will be guided by a local guide on the highlights of the four excursion courses: “Enjoy Mt.
Participants can also ask questions to the local staff by tapping the microphone button on the screen of their smart phones, and decide which of the four courses they would like to participate in after receiving explanations. Upon arrival in Gotemba City, participants will change to a cab and tour each course.
Experiments using smart glasses have been introduced at various tourist facilities in the past, but most of them only played back images that had been prepared in advance. The interesting feature of this new experience is that, as is typical of telecommunications carriers, visitors can communicate with local staff in real time, making the tedious experience of spending time on a moving bus a meaningful one.
KDDI considers this to be just a trial at this stage, and will consider practical application after seeing the reaction of the tour participants in August.
© Source travel watch
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