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Experience the cherry blossoms early this year with AR flower art and Morinaga foods

Dale Roll Feb 20, 2021
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A popular digital art exhibition arrives in the palm of your hand this year!

Every year for the last five years, a cherry blossom-themed digital art exhibition known as “Flowers by Naked” has taken over the rooms of the Nihonbashi Mitsui Hall in Tokyo just ahead of cherry blossom season. Music, visuals in both digital and physical mediums, interactive displays, and live performances turn this venue into an early spring, marking the event as “Japan’s first hanami party of the year” for many.

▼ A photo from last year’s exhibition

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9kaOCNJ9vE/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Unfortunately, this year’s event has been postponed due to the pandemic, leaving many fans disappointed. But as a consolation, the company that puts on the event, Naked, which has also been responsible for other art events like the Yozakura Fantasy onsen hanami, has offered a virtual, AR version for you to enjoy at home in the meantime.

The program is called “Neo Hanami: Sakura Saku AR”, and uses AR technology to make it look like the digital art exhibition has come to your house. It’s been created in cooperation with Japanese milk and sweets product company Morinaga Milk Industry (Morinaga Nyugyo in Japanese), so you’ll need to pick up one of Morinaga’s limited-edition cherry blossom products to take advantage of it, since they have the AR marker on it needed to start the program.

Luckily, there are six tasty, spring-themed products to choose from: Mt. Rainier’s Sakura Latte, Lipton Sakura Tea Latte, Pino Assorted Chocolate (in the sakura packaging), Parm chocolate ice cream bars (the 6-pack in sakura packaging), Mow ice cream cups (vanilla, matcha, and Ethiopian mocha coffee in sakura packaging), and Kraft Mochi Mochi Sakura with Red Bean cheese.

All you have to do is download Naked’s app, Naked Inc Play!, from either the Apple AppStore or the Google Play Store, load up the Neo Hanami program, and scan the AR marker to get it started. Once that’s done, the screen will erupt with cherry blossoms; petals will fall down around the product, sakura trees will grow from the packaging, and flowers will bloom all around it. You can also pan around your room and watch cherry blossoms spring up all around you. It’s like being in the live exhibition, only from the safety of your home!

So don’t worry if staying at home this cherry blossom season is in the cards for you, because there are lots of ways to enjoy spring from the comfort of your home. The cherry blossoms haven’t even started to bloom yet and there are already cherry blossom sweets, Frappucinos, and even cocktails at Starbucks, and plenty of other cherry blossom-flavored drinks and sweets like Morinaga’s on shop shelves. Why not start by enjoying the beauty of spring through tasty snacks and an AR art experience?

Source, images: PR Times
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