After the country’s Prime Minister revealed Japan’s metaverse plans to invest in digital transformation in late 2022, several Japanese tech and finance companies have teamed up to create the country’s metaverse initiative.
Last year, Japan released a policy speech that revealed that it’ll join other countries like Dubai and South Korea in the digital realm by investing in NFTs and the metaverse.
According to the terms, companies who have signed the agreement will integrate their ‘respective technologies and services’ in an effort to create Ryugukoku. This includes gamification, fintech, and information and communication technologies.
The companies including Mizuho Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Resona Holdings, Sompo Japan Insurance, Toppan, Fujitsu, and TBT Lab signed an agreement to create what they called the Japan Metaverse Economic Zone.
Each of the aforementioned companies has a specific role to play in creating an open multipurpose metaverse platform in a virtual world which has been named Ryugukoku and will be operated by JP Games, the company that’s been tasked with designing the virtual world.
Building a digital future
The idea behind this new initiative, which was also promoted by a Web3 advisor for the Japanese government’s digital agency named Hajime Tabata, is to adopt the industrial landscape for “updating Japan through the power of games.” The agreement also includes a tool that’ll allow companies to build their own metaverse spaces within Ryugukoku called the Pegasus World Kit.
Once Japan’s Metaverse Economic Zone is launched, all activities will take place on Ryugukoku where other metaverses can also function as cities for users to access with their avatars.
Apart from the Pegasus World Kit, users of the virtual world can also use a unique identification and wallet service called Multi Magic Passport. This will allow them to make payments and move their personal data such as avatar status, NFTs, and other items between metaverses.
And although it’s still under development, Ryugukoku has already sparked the next wave of metaverse development in Asia.
