# Immersive Tokyo – Texts for quoting

Every text is free to copy and change. English first, German below.

## English

### Hero caption

Shibuya crossing – marketing version

### One line

Walk through four real Tokyo districts in 3D 180° on Apple Vision Pro, from one street corner to the next.

### Short description

Explore **Akihabara**, **Asakusa**, **Shibuya** and **Shinjuku** on Apple Vision Pro through **3D 180° video** filmed on location. Look all the way around, tap to move between street corners and choose your own route through Tokyo. Around **500 info markers** reveal the stories behind the places you discover.

### Long description

**Explore Tokyo from your living room, one street corner at a time.**

Stand among the crowds at the **Shibuya** crossing, explore the streets of **Akihabara**, visit the Kaminarimon gate in **Asakusa** and take in the neon of **Shinjuku**. Immersive Tokyo brings four Tokyo districts to Apple Vision Pro through **3D 180° video**, filmed on location by indie developer Cihat Gündüz.

**Choose your own route.** Tap a neighboring location to move there, then decide where to explore next. Across 92 connected locations, you can follow a recommended route or find your own way through each district. Your progress is saved for your next visit.

**3 camera angles per location** let you look all the way around. A hand gesture turns the view without making you turn around in your seat. During transitions, a **virtual 3D world with building outlines** helps you keep track of where you are and where you are going. A small circle of video remains visible during turns. These transitions were carefully refined to preserve your sense of direction and help reduce dizziness.

Around **500 info markers** reveal the stories behind the shops, temple gates and landmarks you encounter. Each place you discover becomes a card in your collection. Separate profiles let family and friends explore too, with their own saved progress.

The app is available in English, German, Turkish, French, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. **15 locations across all four districts are free to try.** Unlock complete districts individually or buy all four together with a one-time purchase.

Immersive Tokyo launches on **24 November 2026** for Apple Vision Pro. Pre-orders are open on the App Store.

### Key features

- **Real streets:** 275 clips in 3D 180°, 4096 × 4096 pixels per eye, filmed on location.
- **Your own path:** 92 connected standpoints in four districts, with a recommended route for each.
- **Turning without feeling sick:** during a turn everything goes dark except a small circle in the middle, over an outline of the city built from real map data.
- **The story behind it:** about 500 info markers in English, German, Turkish, French, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.
- **Cards to collect:** every place you read about goes into your album.
- **Share the headset:** everyone gets a profile with their own progress, and Guest Mode keeps a quick visit separate.

### The story behind the app

In Cihat's words:

I love Japan. Many people around me want to see Tokyo too, but can't make the trip: it costs too much, takes too long, or they are too ill to travel. I also believed in Apple Vision Pro. In my article „Why I Stopped Building for visionOS (And What Could Bring Me Back)“ I wrote about what a walkable 3D Apple Maps could do. The MKBHD team picked it up, and in early 2025 I was a guest on the Waveform podcast. Immersive Tokyo is as close to that idea as I could get on my own.

I tried out the technical options at Apple's Vision Pro developer labs. In a call, visionOS engineers showed me how to play the video and put the app's UI on top of it. Then, in spring 2025, I flew to Japan for three weeks and filmed in different places every day: more than 400 recordings, about 20 hours of footage. A Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive costs over €30,000, out of reach for one person. So I converted a QooCam 3, a small 8K 360° camera, to 3D 180° with a third-party kit. It's small enough to film in a crowd without standing out.

Back home, I upscaled the footage, interpolated it from 30 to 90 fps in Apple Compressor and converted it with my own APMP converter. Getting the bitrate right for stable playback took a long time. Apple hosts all four districts as Background Assets. I could never pay for servers myself, and the districts fill almost all of the 200 GB Apple allows.

The hardest part was the feeling of being there, without getting motion sick. Walking clips felt wrong in the headset, so I dropped them and connected fixed standpoints instead. Turning made people queasy too. I found that the more of the picture is black, the less sick you feel. So during a turn everything goes dark except a small circle in the middle, over an outline of the city built from real map data. You stay at the real location. The move from one standpoint to the next went through many versions before it felt right.

My first testers said walking around was great, but orientation was hard and they missed places. So I added the cards: a reason to visit every standpoint and read every story. It took me about a year and a half on my own, and I was often close to giving up. Now it's ready.

### About the developer

Cihat Gündüz is a spatial-first indie developer for Apple platforms from Germany, and has been building iOS apps since 2011. His apps include TranslateKit, CrossCraft, FocusBeats and Posters. He also maintains open-source Swift libraries such as BartyCrouch, HandySwift, ErrorKit and ReviewKit. He writes the newsletter Swift Evolution Monthly and organizes the community project WWDC Notes. More at https://www.fline.dev/about/

## Deutsch

### Bildunterschrift zum Titelbild

Shibuya-Kreuzung – Marketingfassung

### Ein Satz

Geh auf Apple Vision Pro in 3D 180° durch vier echte Stadtteile von Tokio, von einer Straßenecke zur nächsten.

### Kurzbeschreibung

Erkunde mit Apple Vision Pro die Straßen von **Akihabara**, **Asakusa**, **Shibuya** und **Shinjuku**. Vor Ort gefilmte **3D-180°-Aufnahmen** versetzen dich mitten ins Geschehen. Schau dich um, tippe den nächsten Standort an und bestimme selbst deine Route durch Tokio. Rund **500 Infomarker** erzählen die Geschichten hinter den Orten, die du entdeckst.

### Langbeschreibung

**Tokio erkunden, ohne nach Japan zu fliegen.**

Mit Immersive Tokyo für Apple Vision Pro stehst du mitten im Trubel von **Shibuya**, entdeckst die Straßen von **Akihabara**, besuchst das Kaminarimon-Tor in **Asakusa** und tauchst ins Neonlicht von **Shinjuku** ein. Die **3D-180°-Aufnahmen** hat Indie-Entwickler Cihat Gündüz selbst vor Ort gefilmt.

Du bestimmst, wohin es geht: **Tippe einen benachbarten Standort an**, um dorthin zu wechseln. In den vier Stadtteilen sind insgesamt 92 Standorte miteinander verbunden. Du kannst einer empfohlenen Route folgen oder auf eigene Faust losziehen. Dein Fortschritt bleibt gespeichert.

**3 Kamerawinkel pro Standort** ermöglichen den Rundumblick. Mit einer Handgeste drehst du die Ansicht, ohne dich im Sessel umzudrehen. Bei den Übergängen zeigt eine **virtuelle 3D-Welt aus Gebäudeumrissen**, wo du dich befindest und wohin du dich bewegst. Bei Drehungen bleibt ein kleiner, kreisförmiger Videoausschnitt sichtbar. Die Übergänge wurden gezielt darauf abgestimmt, die Orientierung zu erhalten und Schwindel zu verringern.

Rund **500 Infomarker** laden dazu ein, genauer hinzusehen: Was hat es mit diesem Laden auf sich? Welche Geschichte steckt hinter dem Tempeltor? Entdeckte Orte wandern als Sammelkarten in dein Album. Eigene Profile speichern den Fortschritt für jede Person, sodass auch Familie und Freunde Tokio erkunden können.

Die App ist auf Deutsch, Englisch, Türkisch, Französisch, Spanisch, Japanisch, Koreanisch sowie in vereinfachtem und traditionellem Chinesisch verfügbar. **15 Standorte sind kostenlos zugänglich**, verteilt auf alle vier Stadtteile. Weitere Standorte schaltest du per Einmalkauf frei – entweder für einzelne Stadtteile oder für alle vier zusammen.

Immersive Tokyo erscheint am **24. November 2026** für Apple Vision Pro und kann bereits im App Store vorbestellt werden.

### Über den Entwickler

Zu seinen Apps gehören TranslateKit, CrossCraft, FocusBeats und Posters. Außerdem pflegt er Open-Source-Bibliotheken für Swift wie BartyCrouch, HandySwift, ErrorKit und ReviewKit.
