ASMeW Associate Professor Nahoko Yoshida exhibited her research on “The Effects of Virtual Reality Exposure Treatment for Panic Disorder Resulting from Agoraphobia” at Innovation Japan, which was held September 12-14 at the Tokyo International Forum.

At the ASMeW exhibit booth located in the Medical Care/Health area in the event hall, Associate Professor Yoshida, Dr. Izawa, and Dr. Lee explained their research. They also gave a demonstration of the prototype virtual-reality software they have developed in collaboration with members of the Graduate School of Global Information and Telecommunication Studies as part of a patient treatment system for use in a clinic environment.

Their research, which can be considered “Japan's first cyber treatment” technology, is based on cognitive-behavioral therapy, which is used as one of the first-line treatment methods for panic disorder. As part of the therapy, patients are exposed to the situations they avoid, so that they can learn how to cope with them.

Innovation Japan is the largest event in the country held to introduce the technological inventions of university researchers to industry. In addition to the 260 or so exhibition booths manned by researchers in the event Hall, 188 briefing sessions on new technologies were given by researchers in various conference rooms. A coverage team from Nikkei BP Online visited the ASMeW booth on September 12 and used a special camera to record the three-dimensional pictures associated with the Waseda-developed virtual-reality software.

The event hall