On February 27, Mitsubishi, Fujitsu and other technology companies announced an agreement to establish a "Japanese Metacomverse Economic Zone", in which they will work together to create an open metacomverse infrastructure from a role-playing game perspective to boost Japan's Web3 strategy.

It is understood that Japan has been working hard to integrate Web3 technology into its national agenda, and in October last year, Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi said the country would invest in digital transformation services, including NFT and the Metaverse.

Web3CN believes that this move is another significant act of Japan after embracing cryptocurrencies, NFT, DAO, and its continued "raging" on the way to embracing web3.

Japan Motouniverse Economic Zone Ryugukoku

The "Japan Metaverse Economic Zone" agreement is based on Hajime Tabata, a world-renowned game creator, JP Games founder and Web 3.0 adviser to the Japanese government's digital agency, who proposes to "upgrade Japan through the power of games". The aim is to take advantage of the industrialization of gaming technology and establish a "Japanese metaverse Economic Zone" through each company's acceptance of the concept.

Specifically, the agreement will integrate enterprise technologies and services, including gaming, finance, technology and information and communication technology (ICT), through the construction of an open metaverse virtual world infrastructure called Ryugukoku, due to the rapidly growing demand for virtual worlds from enterprises and government agencies. (Japanese metaverse economic zone temporarily named Ryugukoku, TBD)

This open virtual world will help create interoperable tools for users and developers across their respective platforms, while it will also serve as a new social infrastructure for enterprise digital transformation (e.g., marketing, information dissemination, enterprise institutional change, etc.).

Ryugukoku is designed to connect users to different Web3 services created by companies and government agencies. Similar to the Sandbox, virtual worlds have their own worldview, which incorporates elements of RPGS (online role-playing games), with each meta-universe service and content presented roaming the virtual world in the form of moving "cities", "castles" or "vehicles". Users can engage in RPG-like experiences as they traverse different realms and encounter a variety of content and services.

Thanks to its cooperation with Japan's leading financial institutions, large companies and TBT Lab Group, users can conduct identity authentication, all kinds of payment, data infrastructure construction, insurance and so on under the premise of open security.

By providing such infrastructure and services to companies and government agencies outside Japan, the Japan Motouniverse Economic Zone will be able to expand globally.

What does Ryugukoku offer users?

(1) Automatic learning of ALA by avatars

Using avatars, Ryugukoku automatically learns the behavior of each digital twin and provides personalized information about health care, hobbies and other topics.

(2) Pegasus World Toolbox PWK

The Pegasus World Toolkit is an advanced tool for creating meta-universes and gaming services for Ryugukoku to build entertaining and experience-oriented systems. It is highly scalable for users, such as users can easily create new metacomes using photos.

(3) Multi-magic passport MMP

The Multi-Magic Passport is an ID verification certificate with payment function, allowing users to freely travel to and from the meta-universe and conduct financial transactions within Ryugukoku. It also allows users to spend long hours in Ryugukoku.

Japan's Web3 strategy

In fact, global interest in the metaverse is accelerating, with countries around the world joining the fray. Japan is no exception and has been working to put Web3 technology on its national agenda: it is doing something in every area of Web3 including NFT, DAO, cryptocurrency, etc.

You can get an idea of the scale by looking at the history of Japan in the Web3 space:

The Web3 policy proposal was first developed in April 2022 by Akihisa Shiozaki, a member of Japan's lower House of Parliament. The task force it led released an "NFT White Paper" in April, subtitled "Japan's NFT Strategy in the Web 3.0 Era," outlining plans to advance the Web3 national strategy.

On May 26, 2022, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a statement to the lower House Budget Committee that the advent of the Web3 era could lead to economic growth, believing that the integration of new digital services such as Motouniverse and NFT would bring economic growth to Japan. At the next parliament session in October, Japan again stated that it would invest in digital transformation services, including NFT and metaverse.

On June 3, 2022, Japan promulgated the world's first stablecoin bill "Amendment to the Fund Settlement Act", which classifies Stablecoin as cryptocurrency and allows licensed banks, registered transfer institutions and trust companies to act as the issuer of stablecoin.

On June 7, 2022, the Japanese government plans to begin a comprehensive improvement of the Web3 environment and approved the 2022 Basic Guidelines for Economic and Financial Operation and Reform, which plans to strive for such an ideal decentralized digital society: A more decentralized and trusted Internet, universal digital assets on blockchain, data managed by users themselves and creating new value, etc.

On 15 July 2022, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan established an inter-ministerial organization, the Web 3.0 Policy Promotion Office of the Ministerial Office, to collect information on overseas business environment and domestic business environment issues, and to work with relevant ministries and agencies to improve the business environment related to Web 3.0. METI is also reportedly working on a proposal to offer tax exemptions to Japanese encryption companies to entice them to continue doing business in the country and further boost the country's growing Web3 industry.

In November 2022, the Japanese Digital Ministry planned to create a decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) to help government agencies move into Web3. The DAO and NFT are seen by the prime minister as a way to support the government's "Cool Japan" strategy. It is understood that the government has launched a DAO to study Web3.

On February 17, 2023, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) said at a CBDC board meeting that the central bank decided to launch a "digital yen" pilot program in April after completing a proof-of-concept test starting in 2021.

Web3 exploration of Yamametsu Village in Japan

The above historical process shows that Japan is actively and comprehensively embracing Web3 both in terms of policy development and technical support.

One of the more instructive examples is Yamakoshi, Nagaoka City in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, which is moving its village up the chain to achieve "village revitalization" by embracing NFT, introducing DAOs, and accessing the virtual world.

Shanyu village

Shanyue Village has a long history, but the natural environment is harsh, due to the earthquake caused by a small population (only 800 people), and serious aging, in danger of disappearing. Yamatsuki's only unique feature is a unique, millennia-old culture: the origin of the Japanese koi.

Yamametsuki launched the koi-branded Nishikigoi NFT in December 2021 with the approval of Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. Currently, there are over 850 owners and the floor price is up to 0.03 ETH.

Holders of Nishikigoi NFT are also virtual villagers with electronic resident card of Shanyuecun. In addition to enjoying the services provided by the local government, they can also participate in governance through DAO organization in chain tools such as the Snapshot of community proposal voting platform. For example, virtual Shanyuecun can be established with VR. Field experience and take photos to make NFT, etc.

Although the current approach still has problems such as insufficient participation flow and unclear development route, Shanyecun is not afraid of a new attempt to realize the value brought by Web3 through NFT, virtual world, DAO and cryptocurrency, and its later success is still worth observing.

conclusion

On the one hand, due to historical development, the development of Japanese Internet industry is relatively slow. When mobile Internet breaks out, Japan is absent. On the other hand, under the labels of "aging", "fewer children" and "weak economic growth" attached to Japan, digital economy or Web3 economy is more suitable for Japan to vigorously develop.

The advantage of Web3 in Japan lies in its rich and distinctive culture, which coincides with the nature of metaverse and NFT in terms of animation, games, music and painting. Web3 can be extended exponentially in terms of space and time. For Japan's economic and cultural space, Web3 is undoubtedly an important fulcrum of transformation.

But it remains to be seen whether Japan can use Web3 to attempt the next stage of its economic leap. Coinbase officially shut down its Japanese operations on January 18, 2023, for reasons unknown, but it was a negative sign for the crypto market.

Web3 continues to move forward in Japan, and it's worth keeping an eye on what's coming next.