Interview
The Innovative Collaboration Bringing Kyoto’s Zen Wisdom into the Virtual World

Meanwhile, Kyoto Meditation Center, founded by Daisuke Sasaki, had been creating digital content and real world experience tours to bring zen meditation to a broader audience, addressing the growing issues of stress and overwork facing many in society.

Kyoto Meditation Center organizes in-person workshop in Kyoto (photo provided by Kyoto Meditation)

Their SanZen product, now available on your browser as a beta product, aims to bring practical zen wisdom into the modern world.

“Our mission is to promote the improvement of work-life balance,” said Sasaki. “I want to share the benefits of zen Buddhism and meditation to busy people, both physically and digitally.”

JETRO supported Kyoto Meditation’s participation in Techstars SCAP program and helped them develop their global strategy. But the collaboration with Mirai Innovation was made organically. The goal: bring Kyoto Meditation Center’s content into Mirai Innovation’s Wavex 2.0 VR and neurotech headset, and optimize it for a broader audience.

“What we are proposing is to expose the user to different types of immersive content within the VR environment, and then explore which meditation content has a better effect into the relaxation state,” said Penaloza.

In less than half a year, the partnership with Mirai Innovation has forced Kyoto Meditation Center to take new approaches, says Hiroyuki Kubo, a co-founder and Kyoto Meditation Center’s Chief Technology Officer. For example, in order to adapt their content for Mirai Innovations virtual reality hardware, Kubo’s team has had to shift to collecting 3D visuals, which has been a challenge.

“In the past, we only had 2D content only. So in that sense, 3D, virtual reality content was a challenge, and we have some difficulty on, for example, the format of the video, but now everything is under control,” said Kubo.

The goal, for both Mirai Innovation and Kyoto Meditation Center, is to integrate their technologies and provide a new, optimized, digital meditation experience to consumers.

Despite the potential, it will be a challenge to scale and attract customers. The wellness and meditation space is crowded, with numerous apps competing for attention. But Kyoto Meditation has several strategies to stand out and differentiate themselves.

First is their location – being based in one of the world’s most famous centers for religious and spiritual practice, with numerous world heritage temples located nearby. In fact, Sasaki, who spent three years working at a local temple, knows many of Kyoto’s most knowledgeable zen practitioners personally.

“I used to live in a first-class zen temple, so I know the special vocabulary and behavior to deal with them and that makes us very unique and special, because other corporations cannot have access to those UNESCO World Heritage temples,” said Sasaki, adding that “it's valuable to innovation, as well.”

Access to first-class zen temples in Kyoto is special (photo provided by Kyoto Meditation)

Second is their market focus – not to consumers, but to businesses, specifically, staff at North American IT companies.

“Many meditation products are just designed for relaxation, but our product focuses on those who are working in the office or at home, to help them recover and work effectively again,” said Sasaki. “So we are aiming mainly at corporate employees who want to regain their productivity after a short period of break.”

By integrating with Mira Innovation’s VR headset technology, they can not only provide a more immersive experience, but also get real-time data on relaxation and effectiveness. In fact, Mirai Innovation and Kyoto Meditation Center are in the process of testing.

“We need more investigation and research to improve the experiences of the customers,” said Kubo.

The big test will come next year, when Mirai Innovation will set up a booth at Osaka Expo 2025, and showcase Kyoto Meditation Center’s content. The opportunity to engage with potential customers and investors from all over the world is one that Penaloza, Sasaki and Kubo are all eager to take advantage of.

“We have already been accepted in the health pavilion and I think this is a very good opportunity to showcase not only the technology, but also the power of meditation through Kyoto Meditation Center's content,” said Penaloza.