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    Case study · Kobe Eye Center + NEXT VISION

    An eye hospital
    that lets itself be read.

    The Kobe Eye Center (神戸アイセンター) is Japan's first dedicated centre for ophthalmology and regenerative medicine. On its second floor, NEXT VISION's Vision Park (ビジョンパーク) is the public lab where NaviLens is validated within the isee! movement and Be Smart KOBE.

    Three people enter the Kobe Eye Center on Port Island; above the sliding automatic door, a white-framed NaviLens tag, while another user on the right checks NaviLens on their smartphone before crossing
    Main entrance of the Kobe Eye Center — Port Island, Kobe (Hyōgo).

    § The Kobe Eye Center in pictures

    From the entrance to the vending machine — everything in 42 languages.

    Three people enter the Kobe Eye Center on Port Island; above the sliding automatic door, a white-framed NaviLens tag, while another user on the right checks NaviLens on their smartphone before crossing
    Glass façade of the Kobe Eye Center with a NaviLens tag visible above the entrance and a black totem with the «神戸アイセンター / Kobe Eye Center» sign in the foreground
    Alternative view of the Kobe Eye Center entrance showing the NaviLens tag above the automatic door, the isee! campaign poster on the glass and Japanese visitor signage
    NEXT VISION (Vision Park) reception desk on the 2nd floor of the Kobe Eye Center: two NaviLens tags — one in white and one conventional — next to a «NEXT VISION» sign, a video-call screen with staff and a colourful hearts mural
    Library and rest area in the Vision Park with cookery books, a wooden counter, an alcohol-gel dispenser with a NaviLens tag at its base, and the multicolour children's climbing wall in the background
    Children's area in the Vision Park with picture books, wooden table and a climbing wall with colourful holds; two NaviLens tags visible — one on the front of the bookcase and one on the side of the auxiliary unit
    Auditorium room in the Vision Park with green and white chairs facing the kids' climbing wall; in the foreground, a totem with a gel dispenser and a NaviLens GO tag on a stand
    isee! vending machine with a yellow «視覚障害者のホントを見よう / i see!» poster and a large NaviLens GO tag on the right side — a blind person can hear brand, flavour, price and position of each drink right from their cane
    Vision Park counter with a 1 L alcohol-gel bottle bearing a NaviLens tag and a large NaviLens GO tag on a tabletop stand — both readable from several metres away without focusing the camera
    Automatic body-temperature totems with the isee! «視覚障害者のホントを見よう» poster, next to a table with gel dispenser and NaviLens GO tag — accessible COVID protocol designed by NEXT VISION

    NaviLens and NaviLens GO tags at the hospital entrance, the NEXT VISION reception desk, the library, the children's area with climbing wall, the sanitary totems and the isee! vending machine.

    神戸アイセンター

    Pioneer centre for ophthalmology and regenerative medicine (2017)

    Vision Park 2F

    NEXT VISION's home inside the Kobe Eye Center

    isee! movement

    National programme for visual-impairment education

    30 m

    NaviLens / NaviLens GO tags read without focusing

    The client

    神戸アイセンター

    The Kobe Eye Center opened in December 2017 on Port Island as Japan's first centre combining a municipal ophthalmology hospital, iPS regenerative-medicine research and a quality-of-life space for low-vision patients: the Vision Park, run by the public-interest association NEXT VISION.

    NEXT VISION leads the isee! movement and the «ナビタグで未来を変える» (Navi-tag) project — the national programme that adds NaviLens, tactile-paving codes and shikAI to the daily lives of blind people across Japan. Everything piloted here is exported to KMTB subway, the Port Liner and JR Sannomiya.

    § The challenge

    Have the hospital accompany, not just treat.

    1. 01

      Turn a hospital into a home

      Kobe Eye Center is not just an ophthalmology hospital: it hosts research, regenerative-medicine clinical trials and the Vision Park, a wellbeing space for low-vision and blind patients. The challenge: making each area — entrance, reception, library, kids' room, vending — independently readable.

    2. 02

      A public accessibility lab

      From the second floor, NEXT VISION leads the isee! movement — a national programme that makes blind people's reality visible — and the «Navi-tag» project, focused on placing codes on Japanese tactile paving and on vending machines, gel dispensers and counters.

    3. 03

      Replicate what works here

      What's validated at the Kobe Eye Center is exported to the rest of Be Smart KOBE: municipal subway (KMTB), Port Liner (KNT), JR Sannomiya and local retail — and even to museums and schools in other prefectures. The Vision Park is Japan's accessibility «showroom».

    NEXT VISION (Vision Park) reception desk on the 2nd floor of the Kobe Eye Center: two NaviLens tags — one in white and one conventional — next to a «NEXT VISION» sign, a video-call screen with staff and a colourful hearts mural

    § The solution

    A space
    that's fully readable.

    Every area in the Vision Park carries tags: the access door, the NEXT VISION reception, the cookery library, the children's room with a climbing wall, the auditorium and the sanitary check totems. NaviLens reads from several metres away and guides users without their having to ask for help.

    It coexists with Japanese tactile-paving codes and shikAI, within the «ナビタグで未来を変える» (Navi-tag) project.

    § Beyond wayfinding

    isee! vending
    readable from the white cane.

    The isee! vending machine at the Kobe Eye Center carries a single large NaviLens GO tag on its right side. A visually impaired person opens the app, stands in front of the machine and hears, in order: brand, flavour, price and exact position of each button — without needing to focus the camera or get close to the glass.

    The same principle was then applied to the Asahi vending at Iryō Center station (KMTB) and to commercial vending machines across Japan.

    isee! vending machine with a yellow «視覚障害者のホントを見よう / i see!» poster and a large NaviLens GO tag on the right side — a blind person can hear brand, flavour, price and position of each drink right from their cane

    § Timeline

    From the hospital to the whole city.

    1. Dec 2017

      Kobe Eye Center opens

      Japan's first dedicated ophthalmology centre on Port Island, born from Dr Masayo Takahashi's «Kobe Eye Center vision», bringing together municipal hospital, regenerative research and the Vision Park run by NEXT VISION.

    2. 2020–2021

      isee! movement adopts NaviLens

      NEXT VISION adds NaviLens and NaviLens GO to its catalogue of orientation tech alongside tactile-paving codes and shikAI. Tags stuck on gel dispensers, counters and sanitary totems during COVID protocols.

    3. 2022–2023

      isee! vending and public training

      An isee! vending machine is installed with a large NaviLens GO tag that lets users hear brand, flavour, price and position of every button. The 96th public session «Let's try NaviLens!» opens the system to professionals and patients.

    4. 2024 →

      Hub for Be Smart KOBE

      The Kobe Eye Center consolidates as the validation point for Kobe's NaviLens pilots (KMTB Subway, Port Liner, JR Sannomiya, Bandō Kobe Youth Science Museum), together with the NPO Eye Collaboration Kobe and Shinohara Electric.

    § What they said

    What NEXT VISION and the Kobe Eye Center themselves said.

    • “私たちはみなさんもご存知のナビレンスやコード化点字ブロック、shikAIなど主に点字ブロックに情報を付加する二次元コード設置の検討（実証実験）と普及する活動を開始しました。”

      公益社団法人 NEXT VISION · isee!運動

      «Navi-tag» project — ongoing programme from the Vision Park at Kobe Eye Center

      Press: nextvision.or.jp
    • “視覚障害のあるかたには、Navilens（ナビレンズ）が便利です。最大16メートル離れた距離から、タグの内容を読み取ることができ、タグまでの距離も分かります。”
    • “神戸アイセンターは、髙橋政代が掲げる神戸アイセンター構想のもと、研究から治療開発へのスムーズな移行、医療と福祉の融合、再生医療に適した速やかな治療開発を目指して2017年12月に設立、日本初の眼科専門施設。”

      神戸アイセンター (Kobe Eye Center)

      Japan's national centre for ophthalmology and regenerative medicine

      Press: kobeeyecenter.jp

    § Results

    A hospital and an accessibility lab.

    Readable hospital

    Entrance, reception, library and kids' room with NaviLens and NaviLens GO

    isee! vending

    Vending machine with a single GO tag reading 30 products without focusing

    Replicable model

    Pattern validated here and exported to Kobe's subway, Port Liner and retail

    § And your centre?

    Every classroom and clinic can be guided by voice.

    Tell us about your centre, your journeys and your users. We’ll show you how NaviLens would make wayfinding easier.

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