Singapore – Titled the “Mt. Fuji Drone Challenge in Asagiri”, Shizuoka Prefectural Government Singapore Rep. Office has collaborated with local companies in both Singapore and Shizuoka to introduce a new form of virtual travel via drones, and has conducted its first run on the 9th September 2021. For the first time, remote-ready drones utilizing new drone remote control technologies took flight in Japan, while being controlled in Singapore.
＊One&Co provided total support from planning to implementation.
The Asagiri Food Park was used as the venue for the virtual tour and the event was attended by Singapore medias, travel agencies and a few invited general public members. As the main highlight of this event, participants flew a drone at the foot of Mt Fuji and enjoyed the stunning view, whilst controlling the drone remotely from the designated venue in Singapore. Additionally, various interactive experiences were planned for participants, such as a tea blending session using Shizuoka’s famous green tea, and a virtual tour to a famous sake brewery accompanied by tasting of the finest Japanese sake produced in the region. The entire event was broadcast live on Facebook.
Mr Akira Hirakawa, co-founder of Red Dot Drone Pte Ltd, gave an introductory course on remote drone piloting. He firmly believes that drone technology will be essential in the future of tourism since operators can visit places without being there physically. Each participant was then given a chance to experience flying the drone. For the tea blending session, actual tea leaves and powder were presented to each participant, who experienced making their own original blended tea.
A representative from a travel agency added that he believes that most Singaporeans would want to visit Japan immediately after overseas travel regulations are relaxed. He added that it was the first time that they have experineced such a tour and it was indeed refreshing to be able to enjoy the scenery with a 360 degrees view. As a suggestion, the travel agencies added that it would be more interesting to have various remote-controlled drone sites all over Japan, where participants can “tour” around Japan via these drones. Comments from the Facebook live suggested how viewers would love to visit Shizuoka someday and experience flying their own drones, as well as visit Mt Fuji and the Asagiri Food Park area. The live stream had over 120 viewers and over 1,700 views as of September 13.
With the tourism industry shaken with the effects of COVID-19, inbound tourism to Japan is at its all-time low as border restrictions keep foreign tourists at bay. To generate new interests and stimulate inbound demand, Shizuoka government has come up with new alternative forms of virtual tour and experiences for travel deprived Singaporeans. Mr Wataru Fukuda, Director of Shizuoka Prefecture’s Representative Office in Southeat Asia, commented that through this event, the prefecture would like to introduce its remote control technology at exhibitions in Singapore, such as NATAS Travel Fair, with the aim of reopening the market for tourists to Japan. He added that in Singapore, there is little to no concept of domestic travel and overseas travel is an indispensable pastime. While the rest of the world has been using digital technology to travel virtually, he realized that a hybrid initiative that integrates a more realistic experience in travel is becoming essential. Mt Fuji serves as the most iconic place in Japan and it is the best symbol to kickstart the resumption of inbound travel to Japan.
Drone remote control technology over the internet
This refers to the remote operation of drones over the internet. Generally, a drone operator needs to be onsite to fly a drone and the operational range is 2-3km from the operator. However, this remote control over the internet allows us to operate a drone remotely, such as from hundreds to thousands of kilometers away from the onsite. A series of remote control experiments with drones have been conducted in Japan and Poland, from Singapore. In addition, the remote control tests over 5G have been conducted at Singtel’s 5G lab in Singapore, which supports various technical aspects of this virtual tour.
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