Virtual zoo lifts spirits of children in Japan hospitals

Children facing long hospital stays in Japan are getting a chance to venture beyond their wards and explore zoos and other destinations through virtual reality.

More than 30 hospitals across the country, including Okayama University Hospital, are taking part in the initiative for children and adolescent and young adult patients undergoing treatment for cancer and other serious illnesses.

The project aims to give patients who have difficulty leaving hospital a chance to interact with others, easing feelings of isolation and giving them something to look forward to during treatment and after discharge.

In mid-July, 15 children aged 4 to 16 gathered in a playroom in Okayama University Hospital’s pediatric ward and put on VR headsets for a virtual trip to Osaka’s Tennoji Zoo.

They found themselves in a recreation of the zoo’s African savanna area, built in an online metaverse, where giraffes and zebras wandered against the backdrop of the Abeno Harukas skyscraper.

The virtual space was jointly developed by Osaka-based Kintetsu Real Estate Co and Tokyo metaverse developer Cluster Inc and has been used for events and other activities.

Listening to explanations from zookeepers, the children watched a hippopotamus swim alongside fish in a large tank and a lion roar from atop a rock.

Controllers in hand, they steered their avatars freely around the zoo, excitedly calling out what they had found.

Although participants cannot talk to each other by voice within the metaverse, they can communicate through chat messages and reactions such as “likes.”

Takeru Kuwahara, 10, a fourth-grade elementary school student who has been hospitalised since March, said he was not comfortable around animals but found the virtual experience reassuring.

“I could watch them without worrying because it was VR,” he said. “It made me want to visit all kinds of places, like an amusement park.”

Yuka Kawaguchi, a childcare worker in the pediatric ward, said some children who had lost strength and normally lacked the energy to leave their rooms had managed to make it to the event after looking forward to it all morning.

“For these children, time like this is irreplaceable,” she said.

Around 100 patients from medical institutions across Japan took part in the tour, including those being treated for cancer, heart conditions and Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease.

Joe Hasei, an orthopedic surgery professor at Okayama University who is leading the initiative, said children and adolescent and young adult cancer patients often have rare forms of the disease, leaving them with few opportunities to meet others facing similar struggles.

He hopes that even meeting as avatars and sharing a virtual space with others undergoing treatment can help patients feel less alone.

“I hope it helps them approach treatment with a positive outlook and think, ‘When I leave hospital, I’m going to visit the real Tennoji Zoo,'” Hasei said.

Organisers plan to add virtual destinations beyond the zoo.

“I want to create an environment where patients can go to the places they want to visit even while they are in hospital,” Hasei said.

Source – Bangkok News