Virtual Fuji

I'm working on... space.

NaviSpace!

NaviSpace is a virtual world that you can access on your cell phone, an idealized version of the physical world where information and imagination become visual objects... almost as if they are real.

Real? That's a strange word to use these days. But when people spend more and more time on what I call "the other side of the glass," looking into worlds inside their computers, cell phones and other devices, the word "real" itself becomes a little... unreal.

I can see Mount Fuji shimmering in the distance, even if I can't touch, hear or taste it. I know it's real. But perhaps a virtual Fuji could become almost as real, if I fully immersed myself in a virtual world where Fuji-pixels shimmered in the sky.

There's a danger in that. I like to keep both feet on the ground, and one of the things I love about the NaviBlog offices is that behind me is a row of glass doors looking out on a small garden. Any time I choose, I can turn from my laptop and rest my eyes on green leaves and mossy stones.

Likewise, any time I choose I could close my eyes and journey to the top of Fuji, where Tokyo becomes the vision in the distance, with its tall buildings rolling on forever.

NaviSpace... real space... the space of imagination... memory. Each is different, but each shares something with the others. The ideal NaviSpace connects people with each other and the real world, rather than isolating them.

Because whether it's real, or virtual, or only a memory, who wants to climb Fuji alone?

- Michael Ely