We’ve already reported on some projects from Okude Lab at Keio University, but I shouldn’t forget to mention a couple of interesting projects whose information is only published in Japanese.

Memorylane, by Ryo Sanpei, Sadamitsu Azuma, Akiyuki Kayama, Yumiko Yoshimoto, and Naohito Okude, is a picture frame for digital photos, which allows users to draw on digital photos and exchange them with friends. The demo video illustrates a cute episode of a boy and a girl making up using memorylane.

[memorylane]

In my opinion, this device would be great for kids who love Rakugao, the art of drawing on people’s (photographed) faces. But, of course, there would be varieties of other uses.

The other project is called Okitagami, done by Itsuki Shibata, Sho Hashimoto, Shingo Kaneyama, Tatsuya Matsumoto, and Naohito Okude. Letters are arguably much richer media for communication than emails. The subtlety of handwriting and the richness of the context in which we read and write letters are what we may be losing in exchange for the convenience and speed of digital communications. Okitagami is another example of trying to bring together the best of both letters and emails. The demo video is available from here.

[Okitegami]