Skies Full of Technology: A Flashback Series #11
Continuing the description of the element profiles of SHINTA VR’s C-Levels, this article discusses Akira Sou, President Director of SHINTA VR. Once Andes (Managing Director of SHINTA VR) said, “Akira is (element) the sky”. Through the sky-air philosophy, Akira is like a giver of life’s source, just like the water element. The sky is what shelters humans from all harm. The air in the sky fills the spatial relationship between the sky, water and earth. Moreover, in essence, the air in the sky is water. Without the connection between the two mentioned, it would be impossible for life to exist on earth.
Based on this understanding, we can conclude that Akira and Andrew (CTO of SHINTA VR) are the two most closely corresponding elements in SHINTA VR. That fact happens in SHINTA VR. In the immersive technology industry context, say, Akira has many perspectives around the ‘problem’ and ‘solution’ in his head. Then Andrew tries to visualize it from the point of view of its practical application technologically. Akira mapped SHINTA VR products at the conceptual level, while Andrew played a substantial problem-solving role in innovative product designs.
In short, it was Akira who laid the architectural foundations of an innovative product that SHINTA VR worked on. He may be the first person behind the scenes of SHINTA VR whose role is to make the initial analysis when imagining a solution to technological problems in society. Such a division of roles fits perfectly with SHINTA VR’s adaptive character; methodologically, it is said to be successful. The proof is in Akira’s hands; SHINTA VR has worked on hundreds of projects on the global stage. The Covid-19 Pandemic became a turning point for Akira. During the Pandemic, Akira made the right decision: optimizing MilleaLab for education and inaugurating SpaceCollab for human development.
However, what Akira regrets is that during the Pandemic, he could not go to Indonesia to take care of SHINTA VR intensively. Akira just maximized communication from Japan virtually. But, again, that’s an exceptioon luck during the Pandemic, because SHINTA VR can promote its products to Japan and the Asia-Pacific region companies. However, the Covid-19 Pandemic changed the direction of the world community’s need to pay attention to technology as a solution to world problems. Andes added, “During the Pandemic, SHINTA VR’s B2B cooperation in Japan went very smoothly. So, we can hold on and are quite calm. We are not too worried about the Covid-19 Pandemic. On the contrary, we have made the right steps. Almost all SHINTA VR products are relevant during the Pandemic.”
As an alumni of Computer Science, Waseda University, Akira admits that he only does things that please him. Technology makes him happy because technology is his soul calling to keep feeling alive. Technology is an open sky full of possibilities for Akira. In connection with that, Akira is very passionate about technology and he always wants to create technology that can significantly impact society. Even so, Akira was also surprised by the profile of the element Andes labelled him. Andes is the sun, and only in the sky does the sun find its place. The two key persons started SHINTA VR and managed it to be what it is today.
In response to Andes’ assessment of him, Akira chuckled and then smiled, “I honestly don’t know if I’m an air element, but if I were, Andes would be the Sun. Without him, SHINTA VR would definitely not have grown so much. I am lucky to have good founders. I think my role is to bring people who are more talented than me and work together in good harmony.” Akira is an inspirational figure who assures us all that technology has no frontiers. SHINTA VR, in the end, is a real collaboration between Japan and Indonesia in the field of immersive technology.