Japan 2022: World Cup Gone ‘Avatar’.

May 17th, 2010 | by: chris | Comments Off

I wasn’t all that impressed by Avatar, but I suppose it’s better than the realism of Vietnam. Japan, on the other hand, were impressed, so they’ve blown their attempt for World Cup 2022 into the ‘Avatar’ of World Cup bids, though that title may be unofficial, and they may not even want it. (So maybe they’re not fans of Avatar after all?)

The Avatar thing is more about the futuristic nature of the bid: they still have to actually “develop the technology” to make it happen. Well that’s just absurd.

“We figure it will take about 12 years to fully develop these technologies,” said professor Jun Murai, Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies at Keio University. “Basically we’ve finished the research phase and by 2016 these technologies should be available for use.”

It’s so audacious they should be given the chance to make it happen, but it also leaves very little leeway should things run over – figuring everything out in 13 years isn’t of much use to FIFA. Though you can bet the 2023 J. League season would be positively boffo.

These are a few of the ‘actual’ technologies:

Among the high-tech projects being developed is a broadcast system that uses 200 high-definition cameras to capture the movement of the ball and every player on the pitch from all angles in an attempt to put the viewer in the middle of the action.

A 3D vision system will allow viewers to see the game in 3D on large flatscreens without the use of goggles.

Fans will receive digital match tickets and be able to navigate their way around stadiums with a GPS system in a hand-held device.

That first one sounds awfully frightening, while the third one sounds awfully Big Brother. In fact thinking about the possibilities of technologies in the next 12 years makes a second go-around in the African spine sound slightly more palatable.

Their bid book – 7.3 kilograms worth of what is mostly papyrus – includes a built-in Playstation and a lower-tech pop-up collage might just tip the scales in their favor, but here’s another proposal, damn the logistics: Japan-Qatar 2022.