Tokyo reflections – Part 1
(In the picture above, from top-left corner) Kyungho Lee, Minju Han, Chajoong Kim, Mingyu Han, Miles Pennington, Federico Trucchia, Hansol Kim, HongYeol Eom, Minji Kwon & Hyunjung Kim
In April of 2024, four of our graduate students and three faculty members flew to Japan to visit Chiva University and Tokyo University. Supported by the NTCDPT program, this trip was an opportunity for our students to broaden their perspectives while for UNIST Design our first step towards building a bridge between UNIST and top design research institutions in Japan for future collaborations.
Here our students offer their experiences and reflections in two parts – First, they share what they have seen during their trip, and second, they discuss their concerns for future steps from the different sub-field of design they belong to. Here goes the first one!
Hello Tokyo!
In the hustle and bustle of the new semester, we – Hansol, Mingyu, Minji, and Minju – rubbed our sleepy eyes as we headed to Gimhae Airport to catch our early morning flight. While driving, Mingyu talked about his daily routine of having a lab space to himself, Minji talked about her classes, and we shared the expectations we had before joining the grad school and our recent experiences of adjusting to grad school life in our own ways.
On the way from the airport to our accommodation, we stopped at Ueno for lunch. We picked an unagi restaurant based on online review in the food alley of Ameyoko Market, Tokyo’s only traditional market. While eating, a train ran through the building we were in, causing the restaurant to shake like there was an earthquake! Hansol had the best Unadon in his life, while Minji liked her Japanese egg roll that came as a side.
For some of us, this was our first time in Japan. Tokyo was very similar to Seoul in some regards compared to other European cities, but we also noticed some differences. For example, there was a very unified vibe within one area, and it felt like everyone was keeping that vibe as if they promised. Also, we felt that the city of Tokyo was a tad more human-centered than Seoul in terms of accessibility. One example was convex mirrors at the end of corridors in metro to prevent people from bumping into each other coming from other sides. We thought, ‘wow, they really thought about this!’
Another example was the QR codes we found on the directional blocks for visually impaired citizens. We could spot them in many of the metro stations in Tokyo and wondered if there are high-tech canes in Japan with cameras pointing to the ground. We ended up scanning the code with our phones and found out that the QR codes work with a smartphone app that helps users find their way around through voice assistance. We thought it was thoughtful that they put multiple codes on one group of blocks to make it easier to scan. (BTW, wouldn’t it be nice if there really were a camera on a cane?)
Hello, DRI Chiva!
On the second day, we headed to the Design Research Institute of Chiva University at the Sumida Satellite Campus. We were given a brief tour of the common workspaces, rooftop terraces, prototyping workspaces, and more.
At the rooftop terrace garden, a beekeeping project was underway. On the way to the lobby of the building, we saw information about class and research projects on a panel. There were a variety of projects going on.
On near every control panel, there were bilingual signs about appropriate room temperature. I thought the space was well thought out, and the space were set up for large gatherings, workshops, and so on. Here, we could imagine the possibilities of how many different people could gather here to share ideas. Projects written on panels were often about collaborations with local governments and involving people in communities, and we could see the process of problematizing and solving real-life problems happening.
The school was on spring break, so the campus was not so crowded. We met only few students building prototypes. With sofas, beanbags, and places to relax in the prototyping building, we could imagine the days and nights of design students there.
We too have a maker space – 905 Workshop – but we felt that the maker space here was on another level. It was spacious and the equipment was mobile and modular, providing flexibility. The atmosphere was modern yet warm with the use of wooden material here and there. It was also impressive how clean and organized the space was.
Hello, U of Tokyo and DLX Lab!
On the third day, we were scheduled to visit the DLX Lab at the University of Tokyo. Before our visit, we tried out Dining Labo KOMANI – the university’s cafeteria – as we found out from online reviews that the cafeteria uses seasonal ingredients and residents in the neighborhood often go there.
Despite being a busy student canteen, it was a bright white building with ample indirect lighting and flowerpots on every table. We got meal tickets, ordered the onigiri option on the way in, grabbed personal cutlery and tea, and sat down to eat. Everything was well organized – there was even a leaflet explaining where the ingredients came from and how they were grown. It was not cheap (nearly 10,000 won) but given the effort, the price was understandable.
Now our main purpose – visiting DLX Lab! We gathered up in front of a seemingly secretive building on a quiet campus. Federico, one of the co-directors of DLX Lab, welcomed us all from UNIST. As we walked through the building, we were greeted by a lab full of equipment and interesting projects, as well as many interesting and experimental projects.
Corals were growing in tanks with measuring devices. It’s a scalable project for science education, designed to allow middle and high school students to grow and learn about what would happen to corals in the future. We learned that the same corals are growing somewhere in the United States for comparisons in the long run! We also saw an instrument for snatching the legs of wild animals like elephants. One thing we also noticed was that researchers were from all across the globe, all working on pressing issues of future in the center of Tokyo.
We were then led to a room with a small exhibition space. Prototypes, posters, and panels of DLX’s projects were on display. They ranged in scale from architectural designs for public toilets for the Tokyo Olympics to safety stickers for parcel boxes made of a material that changes color when rubbed. Physical touchpoints included a Product-Service-System-Design that assists ocean activists with a system to collect plastic pellets in the ocean and record the data, a gaming table that uses eye-tracking technology to improve cognitive function in the elderly, and a system that allows passengers on driverless buses to communicate with their feet to indicate when it’s time to get off.
Hello, 21_21!
Next morning, we gathered up in front of the 21_21 Design Sight at Roppongi, a world-renowned design exhibition space run by the Issey Miyake Foundation. 21_21 was hosting an exhibition of CMF Design for Futures, and the DLX research team was part of it.
The exhibition “Future Elements: Experimental Laboratory for Prototyping in Science and Design” shows how technology and design can help us imagine the future. Featuring prototypes and robots, from initial sketches to working prototypes that are the result of collaborations between researchers and designers. The exhibition is organised around innovative work from the intersection of high-tech research and design. These pieces showcase fragments of the future that we can only imagine. The exhibition allows us to appreciate these possibilities at the intersection of science and design, to experience a space where different perspectives interact and imagination is free to run wild.
Here Hansol and Minji had an interesting discussion about what the purpose of a robot is. While Hansol was fascinated by the concept of a dancer wearing a robot suit while dancing, while Minji did not fully understand the purpose of such exploration. For Minji, it was a robotic arm, but not a robot – robots have to serve a purpose and need to fulfill a certain role though the roles may vary from industrial ones to social ones. For Hansol, it’s enough to explore any possibility for the use of upcoming technology.
An interesting debate for sure, and we ended up talking about this. Since this exhibition focuses on artistic elements, some people might find it hard to relate to projects like the dancing robot and/or might question the practical benefits of such projects. That said, we discussed how aiming to make prosthetic legs beautiful in itself can be artistic and can genuinely resonate with people. After all, individuals with one leg can with for better design for their prosthetic legs as an extension of their body!
Hello, DLX at U of Tokyo Kashiwa Campus!
On the last day of the official schedule, we visited another workspace used by DLX. An hour’s drive away from the cramped (and expensive) Tokyo city center, the Kawashiwa campus was a more secluded one with a large prototyping space and a variety of equipment.
One of the projects that caught our eyes was BY5G that explores scenarios for mobility services in a 6G world, where location-based data (GPS) is connected in three dimensions, including height information, as a prototype.
For example, there was an interface design to communicate with a driverless bus (DRT) so that one can get off at a desired destination by gesturing with the sole of one’s foot. LiDAR sensors are used to recognize the user’s foot motion. As autonomous driving becomes more common, and location and road data are connected by 6G, driving public transport could be done remotely. If these new jobs are created, what will the working conditions be like for the people who hold them?
In the shadow of the aggressive use of technology and advancement, we can expect to see the marginalization of vulnerable groups. Will there still be a need for physical touchpoints in 2035 for older, low-literate populations in response to poor infrastructure and polarization in older cities, such as rural areas? It was our privilege to get a glimpse of possible futures envisioned by DXL team where design-led innovations happen. We were inspired!
Hope you enjoyed reading our grad students’ recollections and reflections of their trip! In the next post, they discuss their concerns for future steps from the different sub-field of design they belong to. Stay tuned!
