Meet me in Google Earth VR!

If you are interested in:

• travel,
  
• the culture and society of far away lands, and of
  
• Japan in particular,
  

I have an idea for you:

Let's meet in Google Earth VR!
I will be happy to guide you around, and there is a beautiful model of Tokyo in the app that will serve as a great start for our conversation. I have spent almost 30 years in Japan, and most of them were spent in Tokyo. Now I live in a countryside town called Tajimi (and I will of course be happy to guide you here as well).

Oh, BTW, my name is Hans Karlsson, and I am building this site, as well as serve as the CTO and international social interface for Mimir.

So how will this work?
I have spent quite a few hours in social VR apps lately, and have no doubts this will be a thing - no, that it is a thing already. While people tend to exchange brief messages or images on social platforms in 2D land, I have enjoyed conversations with people - total strangers in fact - in social VR that lasted an hour or more. That's quite remarkable in a world where most people seem to get bored after a few seconds of visiting a web site. I am eager to find out more, while sharing what I know with everyone interested in what I have learned in this weird and wonderful land called Japan.

There are a few problems, of course:

• In order to use the wonderful, gorgeous Google Earth VR for this, we need to use something called Pluto. The people behind it have come up with a fantastic idea: Let people using VR connect across platforms and applications. Pluto will allow us to meet in Google Earth VR.
• BUT, the app is still in Alpha, meaning that we need an invitation before we can start using it.
• Also, you need to have access to either an HTC Vive, or an Oculus Rift, because those are the only hardware platforms that can run Google Earth VR.

OK, I have some ideas

• I have lined up for access to the Alpha, and Pluto has kindly provided me with a link to invite people to join me as a group. If we can form a group we will get on the fast lane to try Pluto.
• This is the link you need to use: http://www.plutovr.com/alpha?r=fzaWI

So what if you don't have one of these expensive headsets, and still want a tour of Japan in VR? In that case, join me in vTime. It has some advantages to Google Earth VR, in fact, because it allows me to share 360 images with you. In other words, I can show you around my place in a 360 street view world. My user name in vTime is HansInJapan. And one more thing: vTime works on more hardware platforms, including Android phones and iPhones. You can even use those without a headset, but that spoils the fun, to be honest. So, for people less nerdy than me and/or on a low budget, there still a great option:

• Download vTime from Apple's app store or Google Play, or the Oculus store.
  
• Tip: you can also use the Vive with vTime, it works great for me. You will need to install Oculus and Revive, and run it from within Revive.
  

But, who are you? I am not sure I want to meet you just like that?
Well, it's natural that you will ask that question, and here is my answer. First, you can read my profile on this site, over here. Secondly, if you click the green plus button down to the left, you can see me in action, dancing in VR. You will see that I am not all that intimidating. And if you still want to pass this up, well, that's your business! I am still glad that you've come this far in the post, because it must mean I managed to make you curious :-)