Voyage: Beyond the Unexplored / Sky: Cloud Journey
Miraikan|2026
WOW has handled the planning, direction, and production of two immersive installations to open at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan) on Saturday, April 25, 2026. The first is Voyage: Beyond the Unexplored, and the second is Sky: Cloud Journey. Centered on the themes of planetary exploration and meteorological observation, the works offer visitors a visual experience that brings fresh wonder and new perspectives to the universe, Earth, and the phenomena of everyday life through the lens of science. Rendered at a grand scale, each work illuminates the unknown and the beautiful that lie beneath the surface of natural phenomena, inviting audiences on a journey of encounters with the vastness of space and our planet. The works will be presented in the newly established Theater Room on the 7th floor and in the renovated Innovation Hall.
Theater Room: “Voyage: Beyond the Unexplored”
01.

Both the discoveries made through humanity’s long history of planetary exploration and the vast uncharted territories that still stretch across the cosmos are brought to life in breathtaking high-definition CG, grounded in scientific observation data and expertise, forming a fully immersive visual experience. Visitors are transported on a “journey through space” that bridges the known and the unknown. Inside a theater space designed to evoke the lounge of a spacecraft, audiences come face to face with celestial vistas, cosmic phenomena, and the frontier of the unexplored just beyond the windows. Guiding this voyage is musician Ichiko Aoba. Her intimate and gentle voice, set against the overwhelming grandeur of the cosmos, weaves a poetic narrative through destinations including the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and its moon Europa, and finally beyond the boundaries of our solar system. The work draws on NASA’s scientific observation data and the expertise of astronomer Junichi Watanabe, who personally supervised the project, to envelop rigorous scientific knowledge within cinematic visual beauty. The work awakens a new sense of wonder and discovery by evoking the ever-expanding frontier of the unknown while drawing a parallel to the uncharted territories within each viewer’s own inner world. The longing for the unknown that exists in the world around us; the exhilaration felt when a door to unexplored territory is opened; the act of imagining worlds yet unseen — the work aspires to quietly stir the sensibilities of audiences of all ages, from children to adults, leaving them with a lingering sense of wonder to be savored long after the experience ends. ▶ Official Website “Voyage: Beyond the Unexplored”






Innovation Hall: “Sky: Cloud Journey”
02.

This work transforms the ever-shifting, endlessly captivating expressions of the sky into a dynamic immersive experience: sea fog at dawn, shafts of light piercing through the clouds, an endless expanse of cloud sea, cumulonimbus towers rumbling with thunder, the colors of dawn and dusk, and the boundless blue sky above. A wide range of meteorological phenomena, including the sea of clouds, cumulonimbus formations, crepuscular rays, and more, are rendered with meticulous detail under the supervision of cloud researcher Kentaro Araki. Visitors glide above a sea of clouds as if taking a stroll through the air, then venture deep into the interior of a towering cumulonimbus. They then encounter the microscopic world where ice crystals grow into snowflakes, before transforming into hail and eventually raindrops. In this work, 4K video surrounds the approximately 8-meter-high space on all sides and underfoot, enveloping visitors’ entire field of vision in sky. A 12.2-channel spatial audio system, combined with atmospheric effects of mist and wind, further evokes the sensation of being wrapped inside a cloud. From the mist-covered surface of a morning sea to a sunset sky; from the macro world of clouds to the micro world of ice crystals. Weaving together the cycles of clouds across multiple dimensions, the work invites audiences to feel the beauty, delicacy, and power of the natural world. ▶ Official Website “Sky: Cloud Journey”






Credit
Planning / Direction / Production : WOW Project Management / Space Design : Total Media Development Institute Co., Ltd. Photography / Design : Hiroshi Hosokawa Planning / Production : Miraikan - The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation Voyage: Beyond the Unexplored Creative Director : Hiroshi Ouchi Director / Planner : Kyomi Shiraishi CG Designer : Takeru Tsukajima, Hiroshi Ouchi, Yasuhiro Kobari (Triple Additional) Technical Director : Kensuke Arakawa Producer : Yasuaki Matsui, Masahito Kodama Online Edit : Kodai Takita (JUNGLE), Masashi Sato (JUNGLE), Tan Ki (JUNGLE) Music : Masato Hatanaka Narrator : Ichiko Aoba Mixer : Kyohei Ito(PTHREE) Supervisor : Junichi Watanabe (Distinguished Visiting Professor, Kyoto Sangyo University; Director, Koyama Space Science Institute) Sky: Cloud Journey Creative Director / Director : Hiroshi Ouchi CG Designer : Shinya Kikuchi, Yusuke Mizuno, Masanori Takahashi (JUVENILE), Hideto Yoshida (JUVENILE), Yoshikazu Nakagawa (JUVENILE), Takuya Hirata (JUVENILE), Satsuki Takase Technical Advisor : Kensuke Arakawa Producer : Yasuaki Matsui, Masahito Kodama Sound Designer : Masato Hatanaka Mixing Engineer : Katsunori Fukuoka Fog Effect & Lighting Designer : Tokyo Lighting Design Supervisor : Kentaro Araki (Cloud Researcher) Recap Movie : Shuhei Yamada(HANABI) Image Courtesy of Miraikan – The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation




