Opening on the 25th of March 2022 is JR East’s Virtual AKIBA World (or VAW for short).
The space, which will be accessible by smartphone, will allow users to experience the station and surrounding areas of Tokyo’s Akihabara.

An original virtual space designed by JR East and VR development company HIKKY, VAW will be the first station to join the “Beyond Stations Concept”, which will connect IRL stations to the digital universe. The ultimate aim of the space is to make virtuality more familiar by creating links between the real world and the Metaverse.

As the first step towards this integration of real and virtual, JR East is teaming up with NTT DoCoMo, with advertisements set up inside the space. The rail company also has plans to collaborate on the project with other companies interested in joining the digital universe in the future.

The VAW project began following the introduction of the well-received JR East’s experience booth “Virtual Market 6” at a company expo back in August of last year. Accumulating the largest number of visitors at the expo, the space has since been upgraded to a virtual station that can be enjoyed from a smartphone at anytime or place.

In the space visitors will be transported to a virtual version of Akihabara, by experiencing things such as passing through the ticket gates, getting on the train and exploring the station and immediate surrounding area. Just like in real life, you will also be able to interact and communicate with other visitors to the space.

The space has been dubbed the “31st station” on the Yamanote Line by JR East, and to mark it’s “opening” has prepared four famous Japanese TV and film characters to welcome in visitors.

Whilst visitors will be able to gain access to the station from anywhere in the world using a URL from the 25th, a “gateway” to the virtual space will also be set up inside the ticket gate at Akihabara station.
An LED panel placed in the centre of the “gateway” will play a video marketing the virtual space, and a QR code installed beside it will allow easy access to VAW. This physical “gateway” will be available for a limited time only, from the 25th to the 31st of March.

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Virtual AKIBA World Overview

Opening Date – 25 March 2022
Access – https://jrakiba.vketcloud.com/VAW/ (until the 25th, the URL will serve as a teaser site for the virtual space)
Entrance fee – free