Panasonic’s FUTURE LIFE FACTORY Announces “KOTOYAMA HYAKKEI,” a Project That Aims to Help Revitalize Local Communities by Connecting People with Communities in a Whole New Way
April 7, 2022 – Tokyo
McCann Alpha (Director: Ryosuke Yoshitomi), a business co-creation division of McCann Japan (President and CEO: Hiroaki Mori), is pleased to announce “Kotoyama Hyakkei,” a project planned and developed by Panasonic’s design studio Future Life Factory (FLF) to which McCann Alpha participated as project partner. The project will connect faraway people remotely to help create new tourism resources and attractions for local communities. Other collaborating partners include KONEL Inc. (President: Mitsuyo Demura) and MagnaRecta. A virtually-accessible installation event that will allow visitors to experience a simulation of what the project will bring to life will be held at the art hotel BnA WALL in Nihonbashi (1-1 Nihonbashi-Odenmacho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo) from April 13 (Wed) to 17 (Sun), 2022.
“Kotoyama Hyakkei,” a Wholly New Experience That Creates New Connections by Words Being “Dropped” on Faraway Landscapes
We are fast moving into an age where people are shifting to remote experiences even for non-everyday activities like trips, event participation, and visiting friends and family back home. While the pandemic has raised the bar on physical long-distance travel, we are now able to visit faraway virtual places, like the Metaverse.
As a design studio within Panasonic that is constantly seeking to envision and realize a richer future for all, Future Life Factory saw this shift and began exploring ways for people to co-create across physical and mental distances, while helping to preserve traditions and culture. Online connections make it possible for people that live far away from each other and from the local community to come together and co-create in united purpose, bringing in new perspectives that can help communities create new tourism resources and local attractions. With the connection between people and local communities becoming increasingly weaker, the “Kotoyama Hyakkei” project proposes a new way of connecting that will also provide local communities with new attractions. FLF has been working on prototypes that will turn this concept into reality.
The upcoming exhibit will be an experiential installation with an experimental edge. Moving forward, the project will aim to co-create with various local governments and art events to bring about a future of new connections between people and communities.
About the “Kotoyama Hyakkei” Installation
This event will be the project’s first experimental effort.
The special event website will have a wide variety of landscape photos from faraway places that participants can choose from. Participants will be asked to select one and to post a word that describes their reaction to it. The word will then be printed out on a 3D printer, taking shape in real life. At the real-life event venue (BnA WALL), the materialized word will dangle down from above and hang in place against the backdrop of the chosen landscape photo, which will be projected on the wall. After a while, the word will drop to the floor, becoming a part of the “kotoyama (word hill)” that has been formed by the words that dropped before it. The participant’s name will then be added to the credits on the website as one of the creators of the word hill.
As more and more people participate, the hill will become larger and more connections will be made between people and the “faraway place” captured in the photo. We invite you to participate by first looking at a photo, imagining how the landscape looks like now, and what word you would “drop” to describe your reaction.
About the Future of the Project and “Kotoyama Hyakkei Mobility”
The project will aim to increase co-creation opportunities with local governments and art events across Japan in the following ways:
Co-create with the tourism departments of local governments to develop new tourism resources.
Co-create with the urban planning departments of local governments on new community development projects
Participation in art events
Other collaborations with businesses and organizations
To offer an experience similar to the installation event, we have also designed the “Kotoyama Hyakkei Mobility,” which will also be on display at the event.
About the Project Team
This project is led by Future Life Factory, with McCann Alpha providing concept development and production support, and Konel Inc. and MagnaRecta participating as collaborators.
FUTURE LIFE FACTORY (Panasonic Corporation Design Division) is Panasonic’s design studio that seeks to answer the question, “What does a fulfilling future look like?” Through creative and out-of-the-box thinking, it continues to present the world with ideas that envision a richer future for all.
Konel Inc. is a collective of creators and artists from more than 30 professions. With “borderless” as their policy, their approach to projects cuts across the borders of art production, R&D, and brand design. Having offices in Tokyo, Kanazawa, Berlin, and Vietnam, they are shaping the future with a diversity of talent and skill sets.
MagnaRecta Inc. How do we give shape to ideas? MagnaRecta’s main business is to help materialize ideas through technology, design, and production. In addition to providing special-purpose digital fabrication hardware, such as 3D printers, laser cutters, and robots, it can also propose system solutions about what’s needed and what needs to be created.
McCann Japan / McCann Alpha is the flagship agency of McCann Worldgroup Japan, the only true international advertising agency in Japan capable of independent planning and buying of media. McCann Japan boasts a client roster composed of both major domestic and international companies. McCann Alpha, established in 2021, is a division within McCann Japan that aims to serve as a co-creation partner for businesses. With multiple projects currently underway, it works closely with clients such as Panasonic to run alongside them throughout a project’s lifecycle, from ideation to realization.