My Vision No.59
2022.4The “New Reality” That the Metaverse
Will Open Up to Us
The Internet 3D virtual space known as the “Metaverse” has become a focus of attention.
How will the Metaverse change our lives?

About This Issue

As the Metaverse Begins to Attract Attention, What Are Its Possibilities?
– How Will the Metaverse Transform Our Lives?
Masaki Taniguchi
President, NIRA / Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, The University of Tokyo

The internet 3D virtual space known as the “Metaverse” has become a focus of attention. The
Metaverse is expected to find application in a variety of fields. Nevertheless, upon hearing thisnew term, many people are no doubt confused about just what the “Metaverse” is in the first place.
How will the Metaverse transform our lives? What are the challenges facing its wider
dissemination in future? In this issue of My Vision, we discuss these issues with Japaneseexperts at the forefront of this new technology.
Keywords…Virtual three-dimensional space, Second Life, Metaverse campus

Expert Opinions

The “New Reality” That the Metaverse Will Open Up to Us
How will the Metaverse transform our lives?
What are the challenges facing its wider dissemination?

We Will Participate in Rule-Making
Discussions Responsibly

We Can Eliminate Medical Disparities via a
Metaverse With a Highly-Developed Powerof Expression

Masahiro Ajisawa

Naoji Taniguchi

Managing Director (Japan), Facebook

Director and CTO, HoloEyes, Inc.

Keywords…Next-generation social experience,
interoperability, open competition

Keywords…3D models of surgical procedures,blockchain, sensory technologies

The Metaverse Offers Significant Potential asa Space for Collaborative Learning

We Will Be Able to Live the Realities That
We Want to Live

Mitsuyuki Inaba

Naotaka Fujii

Professor, College of Policy Science, Ritsumeikan
University

Representative Director, Hacosco, Inc.

Keywords…Collaborative learning, active learning,socially useful goals

Keywords…An extension of reality, an “impossible
experience,” “fun” and “pleasure”

The Possibilities of the Metaverse and FutureRule-Making
Mika Takagi
Director, Media and Content Industry Division,
Commerce and Information Policy Bureau,
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

Interview period：January − February, 2022
Interviewer : Shoko Omori (NIRA Research Coordinator& Research Fellow)

Keywords…Exchange of value, architecture, social
norms
Editor: Reiko Kanda, Maiko Sakaki and Tatsuya Yamaji. This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese.
NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here. Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2022 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.59
2022.4
About This Issue

As the Metaverse Begins to Attract Attention,
What Are Its Possibilities?
– How Will the Metaverse Transform Our Lives?
“ Metaverse,” a coined word that combines “meta,”
meaning “beyond,” and “universe,” representing the world, issaid to have made its first appearance in the 1992 science fiction
novel Snow Crash. It is therefore not in itself a new term.
However, when Facebook announced last fall that the Metaverse
will be its core business in the future and the company name waschanged to Meta (Meta Platforms), it suddenly became abuzzword in the wider world.
Masaki Taniguchi
The definition of the Metaverse is multiplicitous, but for
President, NIRA/ Professor,
the moment, the image of its having further improved the
Graduate Schools for Law andversatility of a variety of technologies such as virtual reality (VR),
Politics, The University of Tokyo
augmented reality (AR), and the technology supporting theSecond Life platform seems to be close to the mark. The Metaverse will make it possible to wear
VR goggles and immerse oneself in a virtual 3D space to work, play, and communicate with people
around the world in a way that is more “real” than when facing a 2D monitor.
What can one do in the Metaverse? And is the use of the Metaverse genuinely becoming
popular; alternatively, what would be needed to make it more popular? In My Vision No. 59, weinterviewed five experts at the forefront of the development and utilization of the Metaverse inJapan.

A Virtual Three-Dimensional Space: Application Has Already Begun in a Varietyof Fields
According to Masahiro Ajisawa, Managing Director of Facebook for Japan (the Japanese
corporation has not changed its corporate brand at the time of writing), the distinctive
characteristic of the Metaverse is that it allows users to have a social experience in a virtual space,moving back and forth between platforms while utilizing their own avatar and digital assets.
Switching to different platforms from the platform that reproduces their actual office in the
Metaverse, users will be able to pursue more meaningful exchanges with like-minded people fromall over the world who cannot actually meet in one place.
The potential of the Metaverse is not limited to work or socializing over hobbies.
Holoeyes, a medical device software maker led by Director and CTO Naoji Taniguchi, isattempting to apply the technology to medical treatment. In this scenario, VR of a patient's organs,blood vessels, tumors, etc. is created from clinical data, and surgical simulations and training are
performed in a three-dimensional space. Not only can surgery be reproduced exactly, but it is also
possible to expand the site on which the operation is being conducted, and even travel inside thebody, as in the science fiction movie “Fantastic Voyage.”
Professor Mitsuyuki Inaba of Ritsumeikan University is studying the use of the
Metaverse in the field of education. In an experiment in which he had Japanese and overseas
students collaborate in a virtual space, the Japanese students were initially confused and slow to
Editor: Reiko Kanda, Maiko Sakaki and Tatsuya Yamaji. This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese.
NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here. Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2022 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.59
2022.4
participate, but were inspired by the overseas students and gradually began to display theirspontaneity. In addition, the use of avatars, which represented the students’ alter egos, had theeffect of making it easier for them to immerse themselves in the context of the virtual space andto concentrate on the project.

The Key to More Widespread Use of the Metaverse
What will it take to spread VR, AR, and similar technologies, which have thus far received
only limited use, to society more widely under the banner of the Metaverse? One key will be to
improve hardware performance and boost Internet connectivity in order to make the virtual space
more “real.”
In addition, according to Naotaka Fujii, the Representative Director of Hacosco Inc., who
created cardboard goggles that used smartphones to make it possible to easily have a VR
experience, another key to the spread of the Metaverse will be whether or not we can realize aspace in which users experience “fun” and “pleasure” via an extension of their bodies and theirreal lives. It would be fun to fly around the Tokyo Skytree (a 634-meter tower located in Tokyo) ordive to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef simply by wearing VR goggles. On the other hand, if forexample the world of a thousand years in the future, which is beyond the scope of our imaginations,were to be “reproduced,” possibly as a novel, a movie, or a game, it is not certain that it would
appeal broadly to people.
Another thing that Mr. Ajisawa emphasizes is an open competitive environment in which
a variety of creators can use the technology fairly. He and Mr. Taniguchi also mention the need tocreate mechanisms to ensure the privacy of personal information and the safety of Metaverse users.
With regard to this, Mika Takagi, Director of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s Mediaand Content Industry Division, hopes for the development of open services that transcend theboundaries between companies and similar entities; she indicates that at present the market andarchitecture (system) are in the process of formation, and that the mutual interaction between
these and social norms will enable the spontaneous formation of rules. Ms. Takagi explains thatthe law does not act on its own when it comes to regulation, and that we should consider a balance
between factors while watching over the abovementioned movements in the market andarchitecture.

An Opportunity for the Globalization of the University
Personally, I am interested in the conversion of universities to Metaverse campuses. At the“Meta AI (Inside the Lab)” event held in February, a plan to develop a multilingual simultaneousinterpretation system using artificial intelligence was announced. This means that the language
barrier that has plagued the Japanese will disappear sooner or later. The distance of perhaps 10,000
kilometers from Japan to the Western nations cannot be closed, but the Metaverse campus would becloser to the user than going to the school building on the other side of the road, and it would bepossible to interact with students and researchers from all over the world. The example of Minerva
University is well-known, and the online competition among universities is intensifying throughout
the world. For Japanese universities, whose low reputation in internationality is regarded as an
Achilles heel, the Metaverse seems to me to be the last chance for salvation.
Professor Taniguchi is the President of the Nippon Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA), and a Professor in the
Graduate Schools for Law and Politics of The University of Tokyo. He holds a Doctorate in Law from The University ofTokyo. Professor Taniguchi specializes in the study of political science and contemporary Japanese politics.
Editor: Reiko Kanda, Maiko Sakaki and Tatsuya Yamaji. This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese.
NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here. Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2022 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.59
2022.4
Expert Opinions

We Will Participate in Rule-Making Discussions
Responsibly
Just as devices that connect to the Internet once moved from
PCs to mobile devices, we now think of this as a transitional period
from those mobile devices to the Metaverse. The US headquarters ofFacebook has changed the corporate brand from “Facebook” to “Meta”
in order to make this vision clear.
Put briefly, the distinctive characteristic of the Metaverse is
the provision of a next-generation social experience that enables
immersive interaction within a space. Users can share the same
Masahiro Ajisawa
three-dimensional experience, even if they are physically far apart.
Managing Director
On today’s mobile devices, it is difficult to share the same space in(Japan), Facebook
this way within an app. In the Metaverse, one will be able to moveback and forth between platforms while utilizing one’s avatar and digital assets. The importantfactor for this ability will be “interoperability,” but this cannot be achieved overnight; it will takefive to ten years to realize. The Metaverse will continue to evolve seamlessly, advancing the
integration of current 2D apps with technologies such as VR and AR. In the future, as the fusionof the real world and the Metaverse progresses, people with disabilities and the elderly will become
able to move around freely within the Metaverse.
People's connections in the Metaverse are expected to accelerate in two directions. One
will be to move real-world communities and relationships, for example teams in a company, to theMetaverse. The other will be to enhance connections in communities that are built based oncommon interests and preferences. Japan has a rich array of content such as anime, manga, andgames, making the nation highly suited to business in the Metaverse, and this offers the potential
to open up new markets.
The Metaverse is still in its infancy. With the entry of a variety of creators from this pointon, the possibility of improving people's communication, working styles, and daily lives will expand
dramatically. In order to encourage their entry, open competition in which technology can be usedfreely and fairly will be important, and it would not be desirable for any company to monopolize
or oligopolize the Metaverse. At the same time, the industry must build mechanisms to ensure theprivacy and safety for users. Furthermore, it is indispensable to ensure the inclusiveness for users,
no matter what backgrounds or characteristics the users have. Based on the experiences we havegained and the reflections we have engaged in thus far, it will be important to firstcomprehensively discuss possible future challenges and how to address them with stakeholders ina variety of policy areas, and to fulfill the related responsibilities.
Mr. Ajisawa is the Managing Director of Facebook (now known as “Meta” elsewhere) for Japan. Facebook has mademajor changes since its inception, changing the corporate brand to Meta and focusing on building for the Metaverse. A
veteran of Microsoft Japan, in 2012 Mr. Ajisawa became the Senior Director of Japan Client Solutions and East Asia
Business Development for Twitter Japan. In 2016, he became a senior executive officer of the same company. He has
been involved for many years with advertising businesses on online media. Mr. Ajisawa has sought to accelerate thepotential for the evolution of Internet advertising, and became Managing Director (Japan), for Facebook in January 2020.

Editor: Reiko Kanda, Maiko Sakaki and Tatsuya Yamaji. This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese.
NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here. Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2022 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.59
2022.4
Expert Opinions

We Can Eliminate Medical Disparities via a Metaverse
With a Highly-Developed Power of Expression
The Metaverse is rapidly beginning to be used in clinical medicine
and medical education. A typical example of this application in the field of
medicine is three-dimensional models for surgery. Surgery – cutting into ahuman body with a scalpel – cannot be allowed to go wrong. There is a
growing movement for multiple doctors to jointly consider treatment
methods and to conduct careful training by simulating surgery plans in VR
space numerous times in advance.
Conferences that discuss treatment methods and the like in VR
space have the advantage of not only enabling participants to talk without
Naoji Taniguchi
being tied to a specific place, but also of allowing specialists from around
Director and CTO,
the world to share and discuss three-dimensional information that is close
HoloEyes, Inc.
to reality. Because the human bodies dealt with in treatment and surgery
vary greatly from person to person, and the shapes of bones and organs also differ from person to person,
it is important to have three-dimensional information available in medical treatment. The shape of theblood vessels that surround a tumor also varies from case to case. Furthermore, even if one is present
at a surgery in reality, the field of view is obstructed and the viewable range is limited. There are nosuch limitations in the VR space. This provides a significant advantage, in that the body can be seenfrom a free vantage point, allowing, for example, the enlargement of the relevant part or moving inside
the body. The movements made by expert doctors during surgical procedures can also be reproduced
and shared. Although these services have only just begun to be offered, the use of the Metaverse in
medical care will inevitably become a significant trend.
However, there will be numerous challenges in advancing adaptation of this technology to thefield of medicine. First, the areas of medicine that intervene directly in conditions that affect the humanbody are very conservative and tend to be cautious with respect to introducing new technologies. It will
be difficult to introduce the latest technology at a similar speed to fields in which technologicalcompetition is progressing more rapidly, such as games and entertainment, but it will be desirable toincorporate the positive aspects of outcomes in those industries at the earliest possible stage.
Next will be efforts to ensure the security of personal information, such as information
regarding people’s bodies. It will be important for organizations to manage medical data responsibly,
but in the future, we may also consider the use of blockchain technology to authenticate and record
medical data to ensure that it will not be tampered with from the outside.
Additionally, current Metaverse-related technologies still display limitations in their power of
expression. In the future, sensory technologies such as tactile-, temperature-, and acoustic-related
technologies will be combined in complex manners. If Metaverse technology can provide sufficient
power of expression, it will also be able to seek to close the medical disparity between rural areas andcities, and between developing nations and developed nations. The world of software is growing andexpanding at an overwhelming speed through the sharing of outcomes, and I believe that the samething will be possible in the field of medicine.
Following a period at Japan Research Institute, Limited, Mr. Taniguchi was involved in CG research and development
at Nabla Co., Ltd., following which he became freelance. He is involved in the planning and development of smartphone
applications, robot applications, and VR applications, with a focus on 3D programming. Mr. Taniguchi established
HoloEyes Inc. in October 2016, becoming the CEO and CTO of the company. He develops and provides VR apps forclinical applications, training and education in medical fields. Mr. Taniguchi is a part-time lecturer at Joshibi Universityof Art and Design. He graduated in ocean engineering from Yokohama National University’s College of Engineering
Science.
Editor: Reiko Kanda, Maiko Sakaki and Tatsuya Yamaji. This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese.
NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here. Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2022 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.59
2022.4
Expert Opinions

Social Design From the Perspective of Future
Generations
How should we position learning that makes full use of the
Metaverse in the field of education? For 10 years I have been focusing
on the Metaverse service called “Second Life,” and recently I have been
conducting research on learning in virtual space, using, for example,
the Minecraft multiplayer environment. Based on a series of studies,it has become clear that the Metaverse space has the potential to havea positive effect on learning and education in the era of Society 5.0
through interaction-rich active learning that incorporates dialogue.
Mitsuyuki Inaba
One of the events that made me aware of this possibility wasProfessor, College of Policy
an experiment in which Japanese and overseas university students
Science, Ritsumeikan
gathered in a virtual space to participate in a learning activity.
University
Participants were given the task of “creating” under the theme of “53
Stations of the Tokaido” by working together in a virtual space. At first, the Japanese students were
confused because they did not understand what to do, but they were inspired by the overseas students
who proactively made proposals; the process took effect as they gradually became aware of a “position”
from which they could contribute voluntarily and actively. Exchange and learning transcending
nationalities and the promotion of voluntary learning by participants are phenomena that can only berealized in the Metaverse space. In order to actually learn beyond the boundaries between countries
and cultures, it is necessary to prepare physical venues and classrooms in which participants gather.
This is not an easy thing to do, even if we were not in the midst of a pandemic. In addition, the use of
a mechanism such as an avatar (the learner’s virtual body) has the advantages of making it easier forthe learners to immerse themselves in the context of the virtual space without being bound by theconstraints of the real world, and to recognize the purpose of the project and their own role in it.
At the same time, there are also issues. If left unregulated, a virtual space can readily becomea “lawless zone.” A risk management system, for example consideration as to how to prevent intrusionfrom outside, is also necessary. In addition, in order to prevent selfish behavior of participants and toensure the autonomous maintenance of order in the virtual space, it is important that what may betermed “socially useful goals” are shared among the participants. Our past studies have also shownthat posts in Internet communities are less likely to become inflammatory if socially meaningful goals
are shared. In the Metaverse also, the setting of a “sense of purpose” will be important in exerting a
positive effect on learning. Setting clear socially useful goals, for example by considering how it will bepossible to contribute to society and what precisely should be done in activities performed in the
Metaverse space will facilitate effective collaborative learning. There is an urgent need to design
learning environments, asking ourselves how learners are to use the new cultural tool represented by
the Metaverse and what they should learn by doing so.
Professor Inaba specializes in learning science and cognitive science. He conducts research on “collaborative learning”
using the Internet via an approach that fuses humanities and sciences. He completed coursework in the Graduate Schoolof Information and Computer Sciences of the University of Hawaii. Following periods with Fujitsu Limited and in the
University of Hawaii’s Software Engineering Research Laboratory, in 1998 he became an associate professor in
Ritsumeikan University’s College of Policy Science. For a year from 2005, he worked at the University of California, San
Diego’s Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition, researching learning support using computer games. In 2008, heserved as a professor in Ritsumeikan University's College of Policy Science.

Editor: Reiko Kanda, Maiko Sakaki and Tatsuya Yamaji. This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese.
NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here. Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2022 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.59
2022.4
Expert Opinions

We Will Be Able to Live the Realities That We
Want to Live
The Metaverse, a new space that is entirely technologybased, will enable us to have experiences and engage in forms ofcommunication in ways that we cannot in real-world spaces. The
reality that we feel that we are living in now is created by the brain.
The brain both consciously and unconsciously creates the conceptof the “self,” and we perceive the reality of this self through the body.
Using technology, the Metaverse is attempting to expand theboundaries of what our brains perceive as reality. Whether or not
Naotaka Fujii
the “reality” created by the Metaverse offers us new value will be
Representative Director,
determined by whether or not it creates an extension of reality, aHacosco, Inc.
space in which our brains experience “fun” and “pleasure.”
Personally, I believe that the new possibilities of the Metaverse will be realized in a space that is
not separated from our bodies and our real lives.
At present, the Metaverse is what might be called technology for technology’s sake.
Engineers and companies are going in their own directions; it is not yet a consumer-oriented
technology, The value design of the Metaverse, the design that makes the brain feel “fun” and“pleasure,” is something that is yet to come. To date, it would appear that only the gaming spaceoffers an advance taste of such an experience, but given the disconnect of the gaming space fromreality, it would be difficult to say that it captures the essence of the Metaverse. The influence ofthe pandemic has normalized online communication between remote areas. While Metaverse
technology should enable richer conversations and interactions, it has not yet developed any
services that have a greater reach among users than Zoom.
At the same time, it will generally happen that when one meets a person that one hasinteracted with in the Metaverse space in the space of real life, that person will be far from having
the appearance and being the person that was envisaged. There are people who wish to change
their character online and behave with the freedom that this grants them, but when doing
business, we want our interlocutor to be the person that they actually are. Our value judgements,
the way that we judge “good” and “bad,” will not change significantly from the definitions thatsociety has agreed on up to the present. The Metaverse will only be able to create value in a spacethat connects with the world in which we actually live.
In the future, we will create a society based on the premise that what the brain thinks ofas reality depends on the person. Correspondingly, everyone will be able to live the reality thatthey want to live. What we have to do now is to redefine what “reality” actually is.
Professor Fujii conducts research focusing on the “science of reality.” He obtained an MD degree and a Ph.D. degree fromthe Tohoku University School of Medicine. Following a period as a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology, in 2004 he became the Deputy Team Leader of RIKEN’s Laboratory for Symbolic Cognitive Development
Research; in 2008, he became the Team Leader of RIKEN’s Laboratory for Adaptive Intelligence. In 2014 he launched
Hacosco Inc., a company that develops and provides VR services. Professor Fujii serves as the CEO of the company. He
has been a full-time professor in the Graduate School of the Digital Hollywood University since 2018.

Editor: Reiko Kanda, Maiko Sakaki and Tatsuya Yamaji. This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese.
NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here. Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2022 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.59
2022.4
Expert Opinions

The Possibilities of the Metaverse and FutureRule-Making
The space of the Metaverse, in which avatars move
about and interact, will expand in a variety of directions. At
this stage, we can organize this into three fields. The first ofthese is as a substitute for actual space in reality. This is thearea in which we can talk about “virtual offices” and “digital
twins.” The second is as a space that adds to this substitutefunctions unique to digital space. To take an example from thelive entertainment industry, this means spaces in which
performers interact directly with their audience through their
Mika Takagi
avatars. The third is the Metaverse that creates a “new reality”
Director, Media and Content
that cannot be physically realized in reality. For example, one
Industry Division, Commerce andcould experience things that go beyond the restrictions of theInformation Policy Bureau,
body, such as flying through the sky, something which is not
Ministry of Economy, Trade andpossible with one’s actual body.
Industry
From the perspective of the further development of
the content industry, the Metaverse as it currently is remains a “closed” form that is provided
separately for different companies and services, but in the future, we can expect interoperability
beyond the boundaries of companies and similar entities, in other words, the development of “open”
services. Up to the present, the exchange of “information” has been the main focus, but in the
future, it will be possible to exchange “value” through the Metaverse and non-fungible tokens(NFT), and this may be the dawn of the next level of the Internet.
It can be expected that a variety of problems will occur in this process, but for the time
being, new markets and architectures (systems) will be formed, and rules will be formed by theinteraction between these markets and architectures and social norms. This is exactly what
American legal scholar Lawrence Lessig pointed out some 20 years ago. Lessig argued thatpeople's behavioral constraints are the result of an interplay between the elements of laws, social
norms, markets, and architectures. The Metaverse space is new and may require legislation withregard to how to approach intangible ownership, but in terms of regulation, the law does not act
alone, and it will be necessary to consider a balance with other factors. I think that we should
review the best direction for rules and regulations while watching these movements in fastchanging markets and architectures.
As support measures, in order to support the sound development of the market and thetransmission of this technology to overseas destinations, it will be important to establish
mechanisms to ensure technological standardization and compatibility, and to promote digitaltransformation (DX) in industry. Because this is a fast-moving field, we should maintain a closeview of trends and respond flexibly.
A graduate of The University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Economics and the holder of an MBA and an MA in Education from
Stanford University, Ms. Takagi joined the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in 2002. She was initially involved
in disseminating the “Cool Japan” concept overseas and promoting measures to foster creative industries. Following this,she was responsible for international rule formation measures in areas such as trade policy for emerging nations andinternational standardization policy. She has held her current position since 2018. Ms. Takagi is currently involved in
the promotion of the content industry. Given the expansion of the use of virtual spaces in the content industry, forexample in gaming, she was responsible for and conducted the “Project for Research and Analyses Concerning Future
Potential for Virtual Spaces and Challenges therein” between 2020 and 2021.

Editor: Reiko Kanda, Maiko Sakaki and Tatsuya Yamaji. This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA
bears full responsibility for the translation presented here. Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2022 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement