The Path from the World's Top VR Exhibition, Laval Virtual Challenge, to SIGGRAPH: Dreams and Goals Will Surely Come True If You Pursue Them

Fascinated and comforted by media art featuring sparkling projections and beautiful color palettes, one of my goals was to one day exhibit at the world's top exhibition.
Laval Virtual has a 26-year history among the world's international VR exhibitions and is considered the pinnacle, especially among European technology exhibitions.
Reference https://laval-virtual.com/en/

I began challenging Laval Virtual in 2018, but was rejected in 2018 and 2019. Although we were accepted in 2020, the event itself was moved entirely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our team was disappointed to lose the opportunity for a global exhibition we had finally grasped, but we maintained our challenging spirit and did everything we could, such as creating a video letter to support Laval online.

2023 Laval Challenge

In February 2023, we received notification of our acceptance into the Research category of Laval Virtual. Our team was overjoyed at the chance to exhibit overseas that we had finally secured. This was because our project, the Inclusive Quiet Room—a space designed to help people with sensory sensitivities due to autism or developmental disabilities calm down during a panic attack—had been rejected at the document stage of a certain VR contest in Japan, receiving very harsh comments. We were almost discouraged by those comments, but that was when I first experienced firsthand that "people criticize or undervalue what they cannot understand or what is outside their own experience."

Our project, the Inclusive Quiet Room, uses an "instant house," an invention from the Nagoya Institute of Technology that can be easily constructed anywhere, to define the space for environmental adjustment. Therefore, the challenge was how to transport the instant house on an airplane. Ultimately, we utilized a service from Emirates that allowed us to purchase an additional 50kg of luggage per person, resulting in two of us transporting a total of 115kg of luggage, including our own suitcases.

Accepted Project: Inclusive Quiet Room

However, we encountered issues at French customs and found that the luggage would not fit into the vehicle we had prepared. Even so, we managed to repack everything tightly like Tetris, and we were safe. The driver was thrilled, saying it was the first time he had seen real-life Tetris!
Although it is about 300km from Charles de Gaulle Airport to the city of Laval, we had to arrive at the venue by 19:00. We departed at 16:00, which was cutting it close, and there was traffic on the Paris ring road, but we managed to rush and arrive in Laval in two and a half hours.
We were also very encouraged by the arrival of our music coordinator from Austria, who helped with the exhibition, and we were further assisted by a French craftsman and a customs clearance helper.

The reason we went to such lengths to exhibit was that this would surely be our last overseas exhibition, and we wanted to enjoy it to the fullest and use this product to engage in dialogue with local French people about autism and developmental disabilities, even if only a little. Because it was the last time, I wanted to go all out and see it through to fulfill the dream of an overseas exhibition, even if it meant pushing ourselves a bit.

When we actually exhibited the Inclusive Quiet Room in France, the interest of the people was different from that in Japan, and most people engaged in dialogue by bringing up familiar examples. There was even a girl who told me she uses a weighted blanket because she is autistic. In France and Europe, there is a tendency to think about autism and developmental disabilities as shared social issues, and although there were some people who reacted negatively, the general impression was that they viewed it more positively than in Japan.

・Results and the Moment We Seized the Opportunity

We were told there would be an awards ceremony after the exhibition one day, but since we hadn't even been nominated, we thought nothing would happen. One person went sightseeing in the city, I went shopping at a supermarket, and one person attended the ceremony just in case.
When I joined the ceremony after finishing my shopping, they were just announcing an award that included an invitation to Japan, and since people from Gifu University had won in the Research category, I sent them my heartfelt congratulations. Then, the next award was the SIGGRAPH Award.
This award is highly valuable as it leads to an invitation to the next SIGGRAPH, and it is an award that is rarely given. We hadn't even been nominated, so we were about to leave. Then,
"The winner is,,,, Inclusive Quiet Room!"
Suddenly, our project name was called, and I didn't know what was happening.

We hadn't been nominated, and we had received the lowest evaluation in Japan, including document rejection with negative comments from a certain VR contest. I thought that no matter how many products I created to assist people with autism and developmental disabilities in Japan, they wouldn't be valued, and others thought they had no worth or meaning. I was satisfied just by exhibiting in France and being able to discuss and talk about autism and developmental disabilities with European people, so I was truly confused.
Standing on the podium felt like a dream. Even though I kept being rejected, I felt it was the result of seriously tackling the approach to autism and developmental disabilities, which is also my own challenge. Since I wasn't prepared for any awards, I was just wearing my trainer outfit.

Even while being honored, I was asking questions like, "Is there financial support?" and "How will we exhibit at SIGGRAPH?"
When I looked closely at the judges, I remembered telling one of them, "I want to use the power of technology to help and support people with autism and developmental disabilities." I later learned that the judge was a central figure in the SIGGRAPH community.

After stepping off the podium, I knew I couldn't go to SIGGRAPH alone, so I immediately called my teammates, told them I wanted them to go to SIGGRAPH with me, and asked them to take time off work.

I myself had challenged SIGGRAPH five times and been rejected, and I was at a loss, not knowing if there was even a place where my work would be recognized or if I would ever be able to exhibit. Suddenly, the opportunity came, and with the decision to exhibit at SIGGRAPH, which had been my dream, I was able to fulfill one of my goals: to present a demo at the world's top academic conference.

・The Moment the Quiet Room Was Truly Useful

While we were exhibiting at Laval Virtual, someone suddenly started crying in the venue due to past trauma.
Their family told us, "We need the Quiet Room right now!" and we immediately ushered the person into the Quiet Room.
The person kept looking up at the ceiling, watching the projection, and listening to the sound the whole time. When they suddenly started crying again, I spoke to them, and they said,
"I felt very calm, but more than that, the sound and the projection were so beautiful that I cried."
And then,
"I'm glad there was a Quiet Room at this venue. Thank you."
The moment they said that, we found the true meaning of being able to exhibit at Laval Virtual. It was because being truly needed or thanked by even one person was happier than winning any award.
Being able to provide an exhibition that saved even one person was something we were deeply grateful for.

・An incident where I felt the warmth of people's hearts more than the award itself

After the exhibition, we had to dispose of part of the Instant House we brought from Japan in France because of customs issues, or we wouldn't have been able to move it. On the final day, while other exhibitors were finishing packing up one after another, we were still dismantling the Instant House even as the hall was being torn down, and we were preparing to discard some of the materials. As we were loading a lot of the waste materials into a craftsman's truck, the ELSA students, who were from a local university and also worked as staff at Laval Virtual, suddenly came to help us dismantle it.
Surrounded by people who suddenly came to help, before I knew it, they had prepared their own cars and were helping us divide up and load the materials.
Then, after the dismantling was finished, we needed to take the trash to a waste collection site by car. They volunteered their own cars and followed us.

And so, we were able to successfully dispose of the Instant House within France.
I tried to give them money as a thank you since they had gone out of their way to provide their cars and it had taken time. Then,
"We are relieved that your exhibition ended safely. We don't need money. Please come back to Laval again."
Leaving only those words, they drove off in their own cars.
Even though I didn't know French and came as a 'team of one,' in my first time in France, the ELSA students not only secretly supported our exhibition, which they were strangers to, but also helped us dismantle and dispose of it.
We were indeed able to advance to the exhibition at SIGGRAPH, which was our dream. However, more than that, the warmth of the people in Laval was what made me happiest, and it was an event that truly saved my heart.
No matter how many years it takes, I truly felt that our team wants to return to Laval Virtual again, this time with wonderful content.

・After the SIGGRAPH exhibition

The exhibition at E-Tech at SIGGRAPH 2023, which was our dream, was truly a dream-like time for our team. Over the five days, more than 1,000 people experienced it, and being able to discuss disability and technology with the attendees at SIGGRAPH was a very big harvest.
However, to be honest, we did not receive any critical comments from the judges at E-Tech. But when the Chair of the Immersive Pavilion experienced the Quiet Room, they commented, "Why didn't you submit to the Immersive Pavilion? Please challenge the Immersive Pavilion next time."
To be honest, E-Tech has many presentations that lean towards technology, and there are not many demos of content that consider social aspects.
On the other hand, for the Immersive Pavilion, whether the content has social significance, not just the technical aspects of the work, is also a point of discussion during the judging. That was the first time I encountered the difference in thinking regarding the application areas at SIGGRAPH.
My next goal is to exhibit at the Immersive Pavilion and win Best in Show.
When our participation in Laval Virtual and SIGGRAPH was decided, I was informed about a recruitment for university staff. At that time, I was still a master's student and a working doctoral student as well as a technical staff member, so I applied for the university's faculty recruitment exam with nothing to lose, and I received an offer of employment.

I took a job as a research assistant at the university, ahead of others with doctoral degrees.
Honestly, the faculty job while doing a doctoral program was very overwhelming, but I am happy to be involved in interacting with students and continuing to see them grow a little.

I have not lived what is generally considered a straight path, I have often gone off the rails, and I almost gave up halfway, so I am truly not a role model, and I tell students that they should not live like I do.
However, if you can crawl back up from there, it should become a great asset.


I have failed many times, but because I was able to overcome them, learn, and solve them, I was able to understand human beings.

The evaluation criteria in Japan and overseas are different. Even if you are not recognized in Japan, you should just challenge yourself overseas. That doesn't mean you have to study abroad or move to another country for work from Japan; in this modern age where communication has developed, you can challenge yourself as much as you want from within Japan. In fact, it is possible to transmit information to the world and interact while staying in Japan. What is important in that is not being able to speak English or other languages. It is important to be able to express words properly in your native language. I think that even if you have a native language, it is a foreign language, so the ability to use Japanese correctly is what will be important from now on.
Even if I wasn't recognized in Japan, I was able to take on the challenge of applying overseas by acquiring the ability to think deeply about what I want to convey and how, and the ability to argue.

So, to everyone watching this note, if it's painful, it's good to wait until you calm down. However, do not give up until the end, and a little bit of inferiority is necessary for you to improve yourself. Besides, being born into a good family that is considered good in Japan, going to a good elementary, junior high, high school, and university, getting a good job, and building a happy family is actually a rare case.

In reality, because it is about human relationships, it is more complex, and above all, it is not straight but winding, and you are more likely to hit a wall. But because it is complex, there is diversity, and I think this world is fun because there are many different kinds of people.

That is why I will continue to push forward with welfare engineering, with the theme of Technology x Disability = Welfare Engineering, as far as I can.

Thank you for reading this far.