Japan is arguably home to some of the most creative people on the planet. Having brought us things like Nintendo, the Walkman, and an entire genre of emotionally rousing animation, Japan seems to have an aversion to creating anything unoriginal.

And now, in an attempt to come to grips with the devastation that ravaged their country in WW2, a small team of high school students has created a virtual reality experience that replicates the nuclear explosion that destroyed Hiroshima nearly 75 years ago.

Over two years in the making, the students and their teacher hope that their contribution to Japanese society will prevent anything like this from ever happening again.

In early August 1945, the bombing of Hiroshima killed almost 150,000 people. Three days after the Hiroshima bombing, a second bomb destroyed Nagasaki - killing an additional 70,000 people. Six days later, Japan surrendered.

One of the students who helped create the VR experience, Yuhi Nakagawa, had this to say of his project:

"When I was creating the buildings before the atomic bomb fell and after, I saw many photos of buildings that were gone. I really felt how scary atomic bombs can be. So while creating this scenery, I felt it was really important to share this with others."

Since none of the students working on the project were alive before the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, they resorted to studying old postcards and photographs of the city. That, combined with interviewing survivors of the tragedy, helped to complete what is regarded as an incredibly accurate portrayal of the blast.

Katsushi Hasegawa, a computer science teacher, made the following comment:

"Those who knew the city very well tell us it's done very well. They say it's very nostalgic. Sometimes they start to reminisce about their memories from that time, and it really makes me glad that we created this."
What do you think of this new VR experience? Let us know in a comment!

IMPORTANT NEWS: Lucyd Update August 6th

Hello Lucyd community! Thanks for your interest and support. We have a lot of exciting developments in the works for 2018 and beyond.

1. The Lucyd eShop opened last week. This will be our sales platform for all Lucyd products. We have launched with four main lines of frames, international shipping, a variety of Rx and plano lens options, and more. The first four lines are Lucyd Loud, a Bluetooth "soundglass" that enables handsfree music and voice assistant; Turboflex, a line of durable, flexible frames; Di Valdi, cutting-edge Italian designer frames, and Lucyd Looks, basic frames with a unique understated style.

In addition to our in-house development of Lucyd Lens and Loud, we are continually researching the best tech and fashion forward glasses worldwide, to make them available on the eShop. We are also making ongoing improvements to the UX of the eShop, so please give us a few weeks as we polish the mobile and desktop experience.

Some of you may be surprised by our decision to launch an eShop, because this is a new development not outlined in our roadmap. But we realized it was needed to allow for the proper customization of our hardware to address the visual requirements of our customers, and the concept of an eShop for tech glasses was born. It has already become one of the only places in the world to purchase Bluetooth glasses with prescription lenses, and likely the only one to deliver in a timely fashion. It is also the first online store in the world for purchasing prescription eyeglasses using crypto as well as fiat currency.

1. The LCD token. Many of you are wondering when LCD will come into play. We are currently developing a wearable app for LCD to enable its use with both Lucyd Lens and Loud. We are also developing integration into the eShop for a rewards program, and redemption for hardware and software. We expect to have these utilities in the next 6–7 months.

2. Lucyd Loud, the Bluetooth soundglass, is still a beta product. We plan to make several enhancements to both the style and technology in this product over the next year.

3. Lucyd Lens, the visual AR smartglass, is expected to enter beta on time in Q1 2019. It will be released via the eShop.

4. We are also developing an app called LINK to improve the usability of smartglasses for common smartphone tasks, with a focus on messaging, navigation, social and search.

5. The LCD token portal at lcd.lucyd.co is temporarily down. It will be back up shortly with an access link in the footer of the eShop.

That's all for now! Stay tuned for more updates, and upgrade your eyewear now at lucyd.co!