Japanese companies including major printing companies are working on projects to create digital copies of cultural assets such as paintings, Buddha sculptures and pottery, using their imaging technology and image processing expertise.
Such digital copies are increasingly used in art and other museums to provide new ways of viewing cultural assets.
On July 3, major printing company Toppan opened the Koishikawa Xross digital museum at its main office building in Tokyo. It features a 5-meter-high, 20-meter-wide screen on which the Zao Gongen statue, the principal object of worship at Kinpusenji temple in Nara Prefecture, is reproduced. It also has a section where visitors can rotate and zoom in on an image of a shachihoko mythical creature decoration from the former Edo Castle in Tokyo.