Empowering society 5.0 through AR-VR applications: Studying the potential in Aizuwakamatsu smart city Available to Purchase

To improve the livelihood of citizens as science and technology develop, the Japanese government has put forward the concept of Society 5.0. It proposed environmental, population, and social interaction issues that occurred not only within Japan but throughout the world. According to the Japanese government, cities within Japan have experienced urbanization, permanent citizen loss, and severe population aging. Specifically, the city of Aizu faces a median age of 50 for its population, which is higher than the rest of Japan. This has caused a serious economic recession in the city. Therefore, starting from Aizu, we proposed the realization of Society 5.0 through the applications of AR/VR and evaluated these application contributions to the revitalization of Aizu. For example, tourism within Aizu has been its main attraction for visitors thanks to the culturally rich tourist attractions. We proposed the implementation of AR for touring navigation to improve tourist experiences and understand the historical importance of locations. Furthermore, instant text translation was studied to ensure that visitors, native or not, can experience the cultural atmosphere to its fullest. In addition to tourist attractions, citizen welfare living inside the city is an important factor in increasing moving chances. We explored AR/VR applications in public safety organizations such as police offices, hospitals, and fire departments. Using AR/VR in simulation training can provide much more immersive experiences, further improving training quality. Not only that, the AR/VR simulation technologies can also branch out to other industries, assisting the deployments of Society 5.0 across the commercial area. The world has experienced a pandemic and the impact of lockdowns in the last three years. During the lockdown, office workers have been forced to work remotely, students have had to attend online courses from home, and our daily life has changed drastically. Society 5.0 has proposed to improve social interaction and eliminate regional limitations. In a society where people no longer have to flock to big cities to find jobs, job opportunities will be offered equally no matter where we are. We believe that the popularization of remote technologies such as AR/VR in the workplace can help save small towns like Aizu from collapse in the future. AR/VR technology currently still has limitations, such as operational difficulties for older people, and because its cost is higher than that of regular display devices, it will face higher costs in diffusion. However, in view of the new economic growth point, it may have the potential to create change in a series of social activities. By discussing and evaluating the application of AR/VR in different aspects, we believe that AR/VR will play a very important role in helping to realize Society 5.0. It will help revitalize Aizu and even other small towns in Japan.