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CHAPTER 13 / CONCLUDING REMARKS I 85
devices, large screens, printers, facsimile machines, telephones, and audio equip-
ment and software for HyperReality would be installed. Then at each center, the
cultural heritage information transmitted from, say, Kyoto would be processed,
if necessary, and displayed stereoscopically on screen. Visitors would be able to
enter the scene and walk through it as if in Kyoto, They could, for example, go
to a virtual Kiyomizu-dera temple and enjoy the panoramic view of the mountains
surrounding Kyoto. They could visit Touji temple to view the many statues of
Buddha that are among Kyoto's national treasures. Through HyperReality, a
scene of cultural heritage could be transmitted over the network to a remote place
and displayed stereoscopically on screen. Viewers could send questions about the
Kyoto temple or the statues of Buddha to the Kyoto center and interactively get
answers from Kyoto over the network. They could access any center via the net-
work and ask that center to send any scene to their terminal. A person who
wanted to visit, say, Kyoto could reserve a flight and a hotel room from his or
her terminal.

13.3.2 Developing Products for an Aging Society
This century will see a move to the aging society, especially in advanced coun-
tries. For example, in Japan, people over 65 years old will exceed 25% of the total
population in 2020. Some of them will surely want to continue working after age
65, so it will be important for them to have job opportunities. Others will prefer to
enjoy a life of retirement, making new friends by exchanging information and
enjoying hobbies. Some will be disabled and need to be taken care of. How will
the intelligent communication system contribute to fulfilling these needs of an
aging society? As to how to provide job opportunities to old people, some of them
would like to work at home. To achieve this, a human-friendly working environ-
ment could be developed by using HyperReality. A workstation that provides a
human-friendly work environment could be installed in the home. On the work sta-
tion screen a virtual space could be created. By wearing a data glove, the viewer
could handle a virtual object by hand gesture and gain a stereoscopic view of the
object by wearing special glasses. The user could interact with the computer by
means of natural language in a human-friendly fashion. The workstation could
enable virtual meetings with colleagues.
People could interact over the network, playing games or viewing pictures
drawn by someone else. People in a common interest group could exchange over
the network the images of drawing pictures together and enjoy watching them.
Home care service will be one of the important issues in this century. This will
include not only visiting and seeing patients but also monitoring them by means
of HyperReality. Doctors or caregivers and patients could be brought together via
the network. Care would be given as if everyone were at the same place. A patient's
temperature and pressure could be measured and the results sent to the doctor or
caregiver. When action is needed, the doctor or caregiver would then visit the
patient's house and perform the appropriate action.