WORK

Developed in conjunction with the water spectacle show “Ao and the Night Rainbow Parade,” presented at the Water Plaza of Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, this project takes the form of a digital stamp rally integrated across the Expo site.

By scanning QR codes placed on vending machines and other locations across the Expo site and pointing a smartphone upwards, visitors can encounter creatures appearing in augmented reality, parading across the sky above.

These creatures emerge from various points across the site and move toward the Water Plaza, drawing visitors along as part of a collective experience. They can also capture photos with the creatures, preserving moments from the Expo as personal memories.

We supported the planning and development of the AR stamp rally and AR parade as pre-event and on-site initiatives, providing technical direction to help shape an interactive experience across the entire water show. At an early stage, the project was conceived as an AR-driven program, including pre-event engagement, AR enhancements during the main show, and a post-event experience where visitors could leave messages in AR.

A key part of our role was evaluating the feasibility of using WebAR for an interactive fountain show experience. We identified and assessed multiple technical risks, including challenges in implementing AR in open areas with limited visual features, limitations in tracking accuracy at night, and the constraints of WebAR in environments where stable spatial recognition is difficult. Additional challenges included the limitations of WebAR technology at the time the project began in 2023, the inability to fully validate the environment due to on-site construction continuing until shortly before the Expo opened in 2025, and the potential unavailability of VPS.

To address these conditions, we helped reframe the project from a technology-driven concept to an experience-driven one. By clarifying the core of the experience and communicating technical constraints, we guided the team through a process of redefining the overall direction. Through iterative prototyping across multiple approaches, we validated the intended concept and developed a system in which creatures appear and parade across various locations throughout the Expo site, guiding visitors toward the show.

The final implementation was designed as an accessible, lightweight experience that could be enjoyed via QR codes without requiring a dedicated application, enabling seamless participation within the Expo environment.