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Just be sure you’re wearing proper 19th-century attire – you don’t want to get any funny looks.

Born too late to explore the Earth. Born too soon to explore the stars. Born just in time to explore… Edo-period Japan in virtual reality!

Thanks to the work of an unlikely pair – a Japanese temple-born priest turned IT-specialist and an Edo-specialist/3D computer graphics designer – traveling to the past might be possible sooner than you think.

The duo is working together to bring Tokyo of 200 years ago, called Edo back then, to life via virtual reality. Here’s a sneak peek at what they have so far.

▼ This is a video showing what it would look like if you were walking around wearing a VR helmet, with the two screens coming together to make it feel 3D.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8duVdhEaIY

▼ And here’s some pictures of the 3D models used inside the Edo-period world.

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 ▼ Seems like the sun hasn’t changed much in 200 years!

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▼ But hey, where are all the people?

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 ▼ Ah, there we go! Edo-ites in their natural habitat.

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 ▼ So we have superhuman ninja powers and can
climb on roofs in this thing? Well, I’m sold!

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 ▼ And fly in the sky too? Are we Naruto ninjas or something?

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 ▼ That is some pretty Edo water.

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▼ And what would Edo be without Edo Castle?

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▼ Uh oh, looks like we stumbled into an important meeting.

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▼ Better remember how to do a proper bow or
you’ll get your virtual head chopped off!

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▼ If you skip to 2:34 in this video, you can see what it’d be like to look
around at Edo from the comfort of your chair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dAW2Q6OpNg

If you like what you’ve seen, then check out their crowdfunding page. Depending on how much funding they get, they’ll be able to recreate more and more of Edo, potentially getting almost the entire city to be as easy to take a stroll in as playing a video game. Sadly, Campfire currently only accepts backers currently living in Japan, so if you’re desperate to see this made, you may need to get a friend in Japan to back it for you.

And in the meantime, if you want to see the other possibilities that virtual reality has in store, check out virtual reality Totoro-world and how we at RocketNews24 handled some VR horror games. Spoiler alert: not very well.

Source: CAMPFIRE via Japaaan Magazine
Images: CAMPFIRE