Permanent Installation of 'AR Zoo' at Asahikawa Medical University Hospital

This press release is a joint announcement by Asahikawa Medical University Hospital and STARIUM Inc. Asahikawa Medical University Hospital (Asahikawa City, Hokkaido) and STARIUM Inc., with the cooperation of the Asahikawa Industry Creation Plaza, have decided to permanently install the 'AR Zoo', which uses AR (Augmented Reality) technology to bring animal encounters to hospitalized children. This is the second facility in the country, following the Yokosuka City General Medical Center (Kanagawa Prefecture), and the first in Hokkaido. This service, supervised by the world-renowned Asahiyama Zoo, will be permanently installed at a medical site in Asahikawa, the zoo's home. A new initiative to bring animal encounters to hospitalized children is starting in Asahikawa. ■ Background of the initiative It is said that hundreds of thousands of children in Japan experience long-term hospitalization every year. Opportunities for outdoor experiences, such as field trips to zoos or playing in parks, are often limited, and this 'experience gap' is one of the challenges that cannot be solved by medical care alone. The 'AR Zoo' delivers animal encounters to hospitalized children through AR technology that makes life-sized giraffes and polar bears appear in the hospital just by holding up a smartphone or tablet. The sense of realism, where children might reach out to the animals, creates a new space for experience within the hospital. ■ Overview of this permanent installation - Facility: Asahikawa Medical University Hospital (1-1-1 Midorigaoka-higashi 2-jo, Asahikawa City, Hokkaido) - Start date: Around August 2026 (planned) - Target: Children hospitalized/visiting Asahikawa Medical University Hospital (Pediatric ward and 2F entrance hall, to be introduced sequentially) - Supervision: Asahikawa City Asahiyama Zoo - Technical foundation: SoVeC Inc. XR CHANNEL (VPS technology) - Installation cost: This service is operated by sponsorship funds from sponsor companies and organizations. There is no cost burden on the medical institution. ■ About 'AR Zoo' It is a service that utilizes AR (Augmented Reality) technology to make realistic, life-sized animals appear in places or spaces that do not exist in reality, under the supervision of the world-popular Asahiyama Zoo in Asahikawa City, Hokkaido. By utilizing the location-based AR app 'XR CHANNEL', which uses Visual Positioning System (VPS) technology from SoVeC Inc. to display AR in everyday spaces, it creates an extraordinary experience as if animals were right in front of you through a smartphone. It was awarded the 2024 Good Design Award for its potential to build new learning opportunities and frameworks using smartphones and tablets. Through events and permanent installations at hospitals and special needs schools nationwide, feedback from the field includes 'smiles have increased', 'some children have become calmer', and 'animals have sparked conversations'. STARIUM Inc. has a vision of 'creating a Japan where all hospitalized children can meet animals' and aims to expand this service to 10 facilities nationwide within fiscal year 2026. ■ About the sponsor model: 'Local children are supported by local companies and organizations' The 'AR Zoo Child Support' is operated by a mechanism where local companies and organizations participate as sponsors to fully cover the installation and operation costs for medical institutions. The names and logos of sponsor companies and organizations can be displayed within the facility and the app, conveying to both the medical site and the local community that they are participating in an initiative to support local children. Asahikawa Medical University Hospital is a core medical institution providing advanced acute care, accepting patients from a wide area including northern and eastern Hokkaido. We are waiting for consultations from companies and organizations that can participate in this community-linked framework where the 'AR Zoo' supervised by Asahiyama Zoo reaches the children of Asahikawa Medical University Hospital. Industry and scale do not matter. ■ Voices from the medical field [Asahikawa Medical University Hospital] Professor Satoru Takahashi, Department of Pediatrics, Asahikawa Medical University At Asahikawa Medical University Hospital, we will proceed with the permanent installation of the 'AR Zoo' in collaboration with STARIUM Inc., Asahiyama Zoo, and the Asahikawa Industry Creation Plaza. In the 'Virtual Zoo' held for one day in 2024, the sight of children's eyes shining at the animals appearing on tablets was strongly impressive to us medical professionals. I realized that it is not just entertainment, but an initiative that can lead to opportunities for children's development even within the constraints of a hospital. We medical professionals are required not only to respond to illnesses but also to maintain an environment where children can grow healthily. I am convinced that the permanent installation of the 'AR Zoo' will contribute to this goal. [Yokosuka City General Medical Center] Tomoyuki Miyamoto, Director of Pediatric Medical Center, Yokosuka City General Medical Center Our hospital was the first in Japan to permanently install the 'AR Zoo'. In the pediatric outpatient clinic, penguin walks appear, and in the pediatric ward playroom, lions appear—supervised by Asahiyama Zoo, the animals' original size and movements appear in the hospital space. I also realize that it functions as a 'distraction' to ease children's anxiety when experienced before and after procedures. There is an unforgettable scene. A child who initially pretended to be indifferent later quietly told their mother, 'The lion was there, wasn't it?' If animals were moving around in the procedure room, too. The children's figures are teaching us that possibility.