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JDI Project Awarded FY2026 MEXT Science and Technology Award (Development Category)
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JDI is pleased to announce that JDI’s project for the development of a transparent display–based interactive caption visualization technology (the “Technology”), developed in collaboration with the University of Tsukuba, has been awarded the FY2026 Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award in the Science and Technology Award (Development Category) (the “Award”). The Award recognizes outstanding research and development achievements by individuals or organizations that have been successfully put into practical use and have contributed to socio-economic advancement and the improvement of quality of life in Japan.
The Technology was developed through close collaboration with the University of Tsukuba, based on JDI’s proprietary Rælclear high-transparency display technologies developed by Kentaro Okuyama, Chief Engineer of JDI. This collaboration enabled the development of an application that allows captions to be clearly viewed from both sides of a transparent display. By utilizing transparent displays, caption information can be simultaneously viewed by people facing each other, enabling natural eye contact and mutual recognition of facial expressions during face-to-face communication.
This enhances mutual understanding and improves the quality of communication. The Technology supports people who are deaf or hard of hearing and facilitates smooth communication across language barriers by visually presenting real-time automatic translation results.
These technologies have already reached the practical application stage, with Rælclear currently in use across a wide range of locations in Japan and across the world, including around 200 municipal government facilities, 60 hotels, and 30 railway stations, as well as by car rental operators and selected commercial facilities. In addition, 100 units were deployed at the 25th Summer Deaflympics Tokyo 2025. Cumulative unit sales have reached c. 3,000 units. JDI will continue to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society by leveraging its universal communication technologies.
Kentaro Okuyama of JDI expressed his sincere gratitude to all those who supported and guided the project from its inception. He was especially thankful to Professor Yoichi Ochiai and the University of Tsukuba team for their close collaboration, as well as to the Japan Science Museum (Miraikan) and the City of Tsukuba for their invaluable cooperation in the demonstration experiments. He added that this achievement and the receipt of the Award were made possible by the support and collaboration of many people, to whom he extended his deepest thanks.
Award Recipients (from the left)
Kentaro Okuyama
Chief Engineer, Japan Display Inc.
Yoichi Ochiai
Head of Digital Nature Development Research Center, University of Tsukuba
Professor, Institute of Library, Information and Media Science, University of Tsukuba
Pixie Dust Technologies, Inc. CEO
Akihisa Shitara
Researcher, Division of Industrial Technology, Tsukuba University of Technology
Kenta Yamamoto
Graduate Student, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba
Ippei Suzuki
Graduate Student, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba
For more information on Rælclear:
https://www.j-display.com/en/product_tech/raelclear.html#activity
“Rælclear” is a registered trademark of JDI.
Development of Transparent Display–Based Interactive Caption Visualization Technology
JDI is pleased to announce that JDI’s project for the development of a transparent display–based interactive caption visualization technology (the “Technology”), developed in collaboration with the University of Tsukuba, has been awarded the FY2026 Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award in the Science and Technology Award (Development Category) (the “Award”). The Award recognizes outstanding research and development achievements by individuals or organizations that have been successfully put into practical use and have contributed to socio-economic advancement and the improvement of quality of life in Japan.
The Technology was developed through close collaboration with the University of Tsukuba, based on JDI’s proprietary Rælclear high-transparency display technologies developed by Kentaro Okuyama, Chief Engineer of JDI. This collaboration enabled the development of an application that allows captions to be clearly viewed from both sides of a transparent display. By utilizing transparent displays, caption information can be simultaneously viewed by people facing each other, enabling natural eye contact and mutual recognition of facial expressions during face-to-face communication.
This enhances mutual understanding and improves the quality of communication. The Technology supports people who are deaf or hard of hearing and facilitates smooth communication across language barriers by visually presenting real-time automatic translation results.
These technologies have already reached the practical application stage, with Rælclear currently in use across a wide range of locations in Japan and across the world, including around 200 municipal government facilities, 60 hotels, and 30 railway stations, as well as by car rental operators and selected commercial facilities. In addition, 100 units were deployed at the 25th Summer Deaflympics Tokyo 2025. Cumulative unit sales have reached c. 3,000 units. JDI will continue to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society by leveraging its universal communication technologies.
Kentaro Okuyama of JDI expressed his sincere gratitude to all those who supported and guided the project from its inception. He was especially thankful to Professor Yoichi Ochiai and the University of Tsukuba team for their close collaboration, as well as to the Japan Science Museum (Miraikan) and the City of Tsukuba for their invaluable cooperation in the demonstration experiments. He added that this achievement and the receipt of the Award were made possible by the support and collaboration of many people, to whom he extended his deepest thanks.
The award ceremony was held on April 15, 2026 at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.
Award Recipients (from the left)
Kentaro Okuyama
Chief Engineer, Japan Display Inc.
Yoichi Ochiai
Head of Digital Nature Development Research Center, University of Tsukuba
Professor, Institute of Library, Information and Media Science, University of Tsukuba
Pixie Dust Technologies, Inc. CEO
Akihisa Shitara
Researcher, Division of Industrial Technology, Tsukuba University of Technology
Kenta Yamamoto
Graduate Student, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba
Ippei Suzuki
Graduate Student, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba
For more information on Rælclear:
https://www.j-display.com/en/product_tech/raelclear.html#activity
“Rælclear” is a registered trademark of JDI.