Project to Commemorate the 80th Anniversary of Mitsui Fudosan’s Foundation
FUTURE SPECIAL ZONE PROJECT
Overall Concept of the “Creators’ Zone” and Participating Artists Decided
Exhibitions and NFT Sales in Three Forums: Real, Digital, and Digital-on-Real

April 8, 2022
Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd.

Tokyo, Japan, April 8, 2022 - Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd., a leading global real estate company headquartered in Tokyo, is promoting the FUTURE SPECIAL ZONE PROJECT* (miraitokku.com) to commemorate the 80th anniversary of its foundation. Today, the Company announced that it has decided the overall concept for the “Creators’ Zone” in the Arts & Culture domain and the participating creators and artists.

What is the Creators’ Zone?

Leveraging the imaginative and creative capabilities of creators, which could be called the wellspring of Arts & Culture, the Creator’s Zone aims to create new opportunities and business integrating real and digital spaces.

Prototype to be announced in Nihonbashi in May 2022

• Based on the concept of “UNBUILT,” the Creators’ Zone will feature galleries in three forums: real, digital, and digital-on-real, which combines the former two in a space using augmented reality (AR).
  1. Real: The “UN/BUILT” gallery will open in Nihonbashi with an exhibition of digital art from artists imaginations.
  2. Digital: The “UN/BUILT” virtual gallery will open, expressing imaginative worldviews in an online space.
  3. Digital-on-Real (AR): “UN/BUILT” AR Nihonbashi will open to display AR works, including ideas submitted by the public, in two locations in Nihonbashi: Fukutoku Garden and Naka-dori Street.
• A sales space for the artworks on display will be provided on OpenSea, one of the world’s largest NFT market places.

Computer-generated image of the “UN/BUILT” gallery

The “UN/BUILT” virtual gallery

Computer-generated visual image of “UN/BUILT” AR Nihonbashi

[ Overall Concept ]

For approximately one month starting on May 27, 2022, the Company will use the real and digital forums to open a platform for displaying digital art and selling NFT versions of some of the artworks. Under the concept of “UN/BUILT,” the forum will display digital art by a group of highly creative global talent whose creative activities are powered by imagination, with various creators working in different genres ranging from Japanese animation, concept art, and illustration to French modern artists active in Paris, which continues to combine history and culture.

[ Participating Artists ]

Tom Kawada/AR3 Bros. (AR Development Unit/Tokyo)
Yuji Kaida (Illustrator/Tokyo)
Naoyuki Kato (Sci-fi illustrator, artist/Tokyo)
Isamu Kamikokuryo (Game creator/Tokyo)
Shingo Tamagawa (Animator, image artist/Tokyo)
Hidetaka Tenjin (Illustrator/Tokyo)
Kenichiro Tomiyasu (Concept artist/Tokyo)
Stephan Breuer (Modern artist/Paris, France)
Haruhiko Mikimoto (Character designer/Tokyo)
Koji Morimoto (Animation director/Tokyo)
Kenichi Yoshida (Character designer, animation director/Tokyo)

■ Opening Galleries in Three Forums
(1)“Real” Exhibition

The “UN/BUILT” gallery will be opened as a real forum in Nihonbashi for displaying digital art using displays and projectors.
Digital art created based on the concept of “UN/BUILT,” which broadly aims to present imaginative, pre-realized architecture that has yet to be built, will be on display in the digital gallery described below, enabling people to access it both in the real world and online, providing an experience that blurs the line between the unreal and the real in cities and spaces.

Computer-generated image of the “UN/BUILT” gallery

(2)“Digital” Exhibition

The “UN/BUILT” virtual gallery will open online, as a virtual-world digital representation based on photograph data of the “UN/BUILT” gallery space. Stepping inside the mysterious floating sphere rendered inside the main visual, “UN/BUILT NIHONBASHI” by Isamu Kamikokuryo, visitors are provided with the experience of entering a different world in the “UN/BUILT” virtual gallery.
The development of this virtual gallery will be carried out as an industry-academia co-creation by the International Professional University of Technology in Tokyo*1 and NHK ART, Inc.*2 Together, they are exploring the possibility of being able to provide a new forum for artistic expression for creators.

• 1 International Professional University of Technology in Tokyo was opened in 2020 with the purpose of developing specialists who can lead SOCIETY 5.0, a super-smart society being promoted by the Japanese government. To promote industrial innovation, this initiative is expected to create new value in areas such as disaster prevention, town development, and commercial services.
• 2 NHK ART, Inc. is engaged in digital transformation (DX) of art in broadcasting and other content.

“UN/BUILT NIHONBASHI” by Isamu Kamikokuryo

The “UN/BUILT” virtual gallery

(3)“Digital-on-Real (AR)” Exhibition

A display of AR artworks created by the AR3 Bros. development unit headed by Tom Kawada will use AR technology to augment a series of real items on Naka-dori Street and in Fukutoku Garden in Nihonbashi. The works will include two items selected from approximately 500 proposals submitted by the general public in response to a call at the end of 2021. These will be realized and displayed through co-creation with AR3 Bros. By combining AR technology with multiple and diverse ideas, the project will transform Nihonbashi town into a new exhibition space.

Tom Kawada

Computer-generated image visual of “UN/BUILT” AR

< Selected Ideas >
Yasuaki Iijima and Takahiro Motoyama “dpN dots per Nihonbashi”

“Since Edo-period times, Nihonbashi has been a town where cultures and industries have emerged and developed through the gathering and interaction of various people and things from all over Japan.
We have used each individual box cell to represent people and things that have traveled in and out of Nihonbashi, and we have reconstructed them as 80 objects that symbolize Nihonbashi from the checkerboard in Fukutoku Garden.”

Takuma Usukura “Nihonbashi Ad Parade”

“A new landmark for Nihonbashi in the form of a new advertising tower driven by AR technology.
Our goal is to create a symbol for the town that communicates the appeal of Nihonbashi to the world and becomes well known among the general public as the “Appare! Ad Parade.”

■ Building a Prototype Digital Art Sales Space through Conversion into NFTs

The shift towards digital technology is advancing rapidly amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. Against this backdrop, the Company will open a space for selling digital art to the world on OpenSea, which is one of the largest NFT*3 marketplaces in the world. NFT’s are used as a means to support free economic activity on the next generation of distributed internet, known as Web3. The space will serve as an auction site for artworks by the creators who exhibit in the “UN/BUILT” gallery and the “UN/BUILT” digital gallery.

• 3 NFT: Non-Fungible Token. A digital asset whose unique authenticity can be verified using blockchain technology

Moreover, in the FUTURE SPECIAL ZONE PROJECT, part of the proceeds from the sale of NFTs will be donated to support the activities of the Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA)*4, with the aim of assisting activities for broad copyright protection.

• 4 CODA was established in 2002 in response to the Japanese government’s declaration on the national strategic importance of intellectual property rights protection, with assistance from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Agency for Cultural Affairs. The organization aims to bring together content holders of music, films, anime, broadcast programs, games and others in one place to promote the overseas distribution of Japanese content. The problem of piracy has become an acute issue hindering the official distribution of Japanese content overseas, particularly in East Asia. In response, CODA is mainly working to gather and analyze information, share information within the industry and examine effective solution strategies, and carry out joint enforcement as one such strategy.

■Mitsui Fudosan Group’s Contribution to SDGs

https://www.mitsuifudosan.co.jp/corporate/esg_csr/
The Mitsui Fudosan Group aims for a society that enriches both people and the planet under the principles of coexist in harmony with society, link diverse values and achieve a sustainable society, and advances business with an awareness of the environment (E), society (S) and governance (G), thus promoting ESG management. By further accelerating its ESG management, the Group will realize Society 5.0, which the Japanese government has been advocating, and contribute significantly to achieving the SDGs. Additionally, the Group formulated the following Group guidelines related to “Realize a Decarbonized Society” and “Diversity & Inclusion Promotion” in November 2021. The Mitsui Fudosan Group will continue to work toward solving social issues through neighborhood creation.

References
Group Action Plan to Realize a Decarbonized Society
https://www.mitsuifudosan.co.jp/english/corporate/news/2021/1124/
Diversity & Inclusion Promotion Declaration and Initiative Policy
https://www.mitsuifudosan.co.jp/english/corporate/news/2021/1129_02/