INNOVATORS SEMINAR
Second real day of school. In the morning as usually gym, the class starts at 14:45. Today it was at the campus near our dorm, in the Keio School of Media Design building.
The building itself is pretty modern with many loft areas. On the ground level there is a fitness center, drug store, cafe, supermarket and a bar.
In order to get in to the section of Keio School of Media Design, you have to scan your student card and the doors will open.
The class room was huge and very modern. In the middle of the ceiling there was a huge sony projector, and 3 smaller projectors to the sides (so 4 screens). Every table has lan connection as well as a plug for a computer. In the back of the room stands a video camera which tapes the class and sends in to the web so that student can virtually participate in the class session or watch the video of the class later.
There were not too many participants. One of the girls was giving traditional Japanese cakes to everyone (Japanese tradition). The class itself started with scanning of student IDs (there is a bar code on the ID, so it was scanned by a scanning device). By the way, the same procedure is to be done after the class (checking out).
The main professor has very strong Japanese-English accent and often repeats"soda" which means something I don't know in Japanese. However the whole class will be a set of guest lectures on innovation.
The rules of the class are as follows: classes are graded only by attendance. Absence = -1 point, late to class =-0,5 points. A student with -2 or more fails the class. However it is possible to watch the class online, you simply need to submit your IP after. Additionally, we will need to write a half-page report after every class describing our thoughts on covered topics.
Today's speaker was a very famous professor at Keio, professor Tachi, founder of Tachi labs. He was talking about human augmentation in different aspects. The lecture was really interesting and informative. Finally I felt I was in Japan!
Professor Tachi explaining virtual reality
He was creating robot-dogs even long before I was born. Now he has lots of inventions like lots of robots and other augmentation devices.
After the class we were invited to visit hi slab where product prototypes were available to try. This is amazing place!!! This is real Japan!!!
One of the things was a robot that you can control. You put on a mask and gloves (this time without gloves) and you can see through the eyes of the robot, turn your head around, even see yourself sitting in a chair.
Another thing was a special coat that you can see through: you simply put it on, then others look through a special device and they see through the coat.
One other cool game: you get to play with a small virtual fairy that responds to your movements. You look through a special glass and see a fairy there. Then you put your hands in that box too and can move her around, play with it.
Very cool one was a simple set of plastic glasses linked together. On the bottom of there is a transmitter. When you put something in one glass (like small plastic balls), the other class makes vibrations and sounds as if you were putting those into this glass too.
The biggest thing we got to see was twister: it is a huge machine. You sit inside, it rotates and shows you 3D images of surroundings. It also adds sounds and smells to make your senses stronger. Here is how it looks
CONCERT
In the evening we went to a concert, Japanese bands that we met at Keio campus were playing in club Asia.
Entrance was 4 euro and it was worth it. Inside we were the only non-Japanese people. Some of the musicians and guys recognized us and were happy to see us.
8 bands were playing tonight, each 20-25 minutes. All of them are from Keio university. KBR modern Shacks have rocked the dancefloor the most. We were dancing, jumping and enjoying the great atmosphere. When some Japanese people saw how we were having fun, they also joined us.
It was great. After the performance the musicians cam to us and thanked for coming out, we thanked them for great music.
BURGER KING
We stopped to grab a burger quickly. 2 things that I should mention here: there was green fanta in menu and on one of the tables two Japanese girls were sleeping. Seemed like they have been sleeping there for quite a while... At it was like 9 in the evening.
FASHION
On the streets on Tokyo you can meet so many different characters. You have to come here ones to see and experience: anime girls, punks, girly looking boys, people in black suits, school girls - literally everyone. Styles differ so much like probably in non other city in the world. Will try to get some good pictures later.
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