Japan may be known for their awesome watches, ninja restaurant, Gundam cafe, and these strange inventions, but these five futuristic technologies are right up there with them. They include a “True 3D Display”, Live2D, and lots more. While many of these are conceptual technologies, they do provide a glimpse at what’s to come in the near future for consumers. Continue reading to see them all.

5. Avatar Mirrors

A Keio University group, led by Associate Professor Yasue Mitsukura, has developed a method for measuring which way a person is facing and how their expression changes. This system achieves high speed and high precision, using an ordinary PC and a USB camera. We think this system could be used by CG animation hobbyists, in Web dialog systems that show a character instead of the person’s face, and for making characters move in real time at events. Because the system uses just one PC and one camera, it can be applied in many situations very easily.

4. Kiss Transmission

This device is for communications within the mouth, in other words, the goal is to obtain the feeling of kissing. If you take one device in your mouth and turn it with your tongue, the other device turns in the same way. If you turn it back the other way, then your partner’s turns back the same way, so your partner’s device turns whichever way your own device turns.

3. Spherical Flying Machine

This is the world’s first spherical flying machine developed by the Research Department at Japan’s Ministry of Defense. This machine can hover like a helicopter, and take-off and land vertically. But because it works like a propeller plane standing vertically, it can fly forward at high speed using wings, which a helicopter can’t do. This machine also has three gyro sensors, so even if it hits an obstacle, it can maintain its attitude and keep flying through automatic control.

2. Live2D

In 3D, the unique attractions of 2D art like Osamu Tezuka’s can’t be rendered properly. But with Live2D, we’ve worked to enable smooth 3D motion using entirely the original 2D drawings. So, this system makes the graphics appear exactly as the creator intended. When the face turns sideways, you can show perfectly how the eyelashes and eyes move. You can also use the tools to work more easily and efficiently. This can be done in all kinds of ways, with all kinds of emphasis, depending on what the creator wants to do. This technology is an extension of drawing, so it works best if the creator has a good artistic sense.

1. True 3D Display