A Survey of Virtual Reality in Japan

The NSF Summer Institute in Japan program sends about 60 graduate students of all disciplines to Japan each summer. For two months, students participate in research at host labs, visit conferences and other labs of interest, and receive Japanese language and cultural instruction. Full financial support is provided by the American and Japanese governments. During the summer of 1993, the author participated in this program and took the opportunity to visit the Japanese virtual reality research community. He attended two virtual reality conferences and toured more than a dozen labs. After the program, he made short visits to VR and graphics labs in PR China and South Korea. This paper gives a detailed account of these experiences.