Japan's 'Superhuman'
athletes mix legends with high tech
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[May 15, 2017]
By Kyung Hoon Kim
TOKYO
(Reuters) - When it comes to culture and entertainment, Japan has a rich
history spanning ancient legends and sport to popular comics and video
games.
Now a new generation of inventors is drawing on this culture to create
sports with a 21st-century twist -- helping players feel "superhuman"
through technology or other special equipment.
The Superhuman Sports Society, a Tokyo-based group of researchers and
game designers, has certified 12 new sports since its launch in 2015,
including "HADO", or "wave motion" in English.
In "HADO", players in head-mounted augmented-reality displays and
armband sensors dodge waves of light as they fire energy balls at each
other in a virtual arena. The game is similar to the action seen in the
"Dragon Ball" manga-animation franchise and "Street Fighter" video
games.
Some games are low tech such as "Rock Hand Battle", in which each player
wears an oversized arm and tries to knock off small rocks attached to an
opponent's "rock hand".
Noriya Kazami, 25, a cartoonist and an inventor of "Rock Hand Battle"
(above), said she took inspiration from the legend of Mitsuishi (Three
Rocks) and the Demon's Handprint.
She also created a comic book series based on the legend, in which a
devil was tied to rocks and made to stop harassing the local people. The
devil left a handprint on one of the rocks, making a "rock hand".
We asked other players for their thoughts on playing "Superhuman
Sports".
BUBBLE-WRAPPED SUMO
Ryoichi Ando, 27, a virtual-reality researcher and an inventor of
"Bubble Jumper", said he felt as if he were wearing the kind of
augmented body suit found in science-fiction movies that boosts the
wearer's strength.
In "Bubble Jumper", players walking on stilts and wearing inflatable
bubble protectors crash into each other like sumo wrestlers.
TOKYO DRIFT
"Technology can improve and supplement human ability," said Isao
Uebayashi, 38, a sports science researcher and an inventor of "Slide
Lift". "Anyone can do 'drift racing' with this wheelchair," he said.
Equipped with special wheels, the motor-assisted wheelchair can be moved
by "Slide Lift" racers in any direction, including in racing car-like
drifts.
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A passer-by looks at a "Hado Kart" player during the sport's
demonstration, in Tokyo, Japan, March 18, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
IN
ANOTHER WORLD
Tomohiro Hamamura, 25, who works in IT sales and is a "HADO Kart" player, said:
"When I play this sport, I don't need to think seriously. I just feel the
existence of another world which is different from my real world."
INTERNET IDOL
Piyohina, an Internet idol and singer of animation songs, said: "When I play
HADO, I always simulate in my head the best way to fire an energy ball."
ENERGY SENSATION
Junpei Sasaki, a singer and "HADO" player, said: "Sometimes I can feel the
sensation of the energy ball leaving my hand when I play HADO. It makes playing
the sport really exciting."
UP IN THE AIR
Hirohiko Hayakawa, 26, a Ph.D. student in media design and an inventor of "ToriTori",
said: "The drone in the air is a part of the player's body and this sport
integrating human and machine makes me experience the feeling of flying."
Hayakawa said he was inspired by the bird catchers ("tori tori" in Japanese) in
Kenji Miyazawa's classic 1934 fantasy novel "Night on the Galactic Railroad".
TAKING THE REINS
Kosuke Sato, 25, a Ph.D. student in human informatics and an inventor of "Carry
Otto", said he wanted to create a sport anyone could enjoy regardless of age,
gender or disability. Carry Otto is a motorized wheel device with reins that
pull a rider seated on a dolly. Riders race each other.
(Additional reporting by James Daniels; Editing by Chris Gallagher)
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