Bringing Tokyo to Jakarta with the Walk Tokyo VR Event and Its Press Conference

At the end of 2025, PT Asahi Shimbun Asia Pacific and the Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau (TCVB) opened Walk Tokyo: Virtual Journey at Mall of Indonesia in Jakarta. It was a free VR experience for "walking around" Tokyo without a flight, from Shibuya Scramble Crossing to the Awa Odori festival in Koenji.

I ran the project at Kyon Studio as Project Manager. Besides coordinating the project, I handled the venue layout and ran the opening press conference, while my team made the event signage.

The challenge: one venue, two events

The event took an area on Mall of Indonesia's LG floor, right next to Little Planet. The same space had to hold two things:

• A VR area where visitors put on headsets and explore Tokyo, with photo spots themed on Tokyo Tower, Kaminarimon, Rainbow Bridge and Hachiko.
• The opening press conference, with a stage, media, guests from Japan and a guest star.

Because the VR area and the press conference shared one venue, the layout had to change in a short window, between the press conference setup and the VR setup.

Mall visitors also arrive without a plan. They walk past, get curious, and need to know right away what this is and where to start.

The press conference itself had a short slot, and its main message had to land: this was not just tourism promotion, but a cultural exchange between Tokyo and Jakarta.

What I did

Project coordination

As PM, I was the point of coordination between my team at Kyon Studio, the client team, production vendors and talent, keeping the preparation on plan through to the day and every decision with a clear owner.

One venue, two layouts

I handled the layout for both setups in the same venue, the press conference and the VR area, including the changeover between them, which had to be done in a short time.

For the VR setup, I laid out the flow so visitors move through it on their own:

1. 1EntranceVisible straight from the mall walkway
2. 2Photo spotsTokyo Tower, Kaminarimon, Rainbow Bridge, Hachiko
3. 3VR experienceShibuya, Asakusa, Mount Takao, Awa Odori
4. 4SurveyExclusive postcards for the first 200 respondents

Event signage

My team at Kyon Studio also made the signage. Since mall visitors arrive without a plan, the signage had to answer two questions at a glance: what is this, and where is it. The Walk Tokyo Virtual Journey title is big, the location (Little Planet Mall of Indonesia, LG Floor) sits right under it, and the visual shows the experience straight away: a kid in a VR headset surrounded by Tokyo icons, from Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge to neon-lit streets and cherry blossoms.

The opening press conference

My team and the client team put the rundown together: the host's opening, remarks from Tetsuya Sebata, Director of PT Asahi Shimbun Asia Pacific, a talkshow with Haruka Nakagawa (a former JKT48 member from Tokyo), and the group photo session. On the day, I ran the show: keeping every segment change on time, talent ready, mics handed over, and the media getting the photo moments they came for.

Results

The event ran from November 29, 2025 to January 7, 2026, open daily from 10 am to 10 pm and free to the public. The opening press conference was covered by national media, including Suara.com and Kompas.com (both in Indonesian).

The main message landed too. Suara.com quoted Tetsuya Sebata calling it not just destination promotion, but a means of cultural exchange.

Free VR event at Mall of Indonesia

40 days

Corners of Tokyo to explore in VR

5

Photo spots themed on Tokyo icons

4

What I learned

At an experiential event, the layout matters as much as the content. However good the VR is, nobody tries it if mall visitors can't tell where to start. When one venue hosts two events, the changeover between layouts deserves as much planning as the layouts themselves. And a tidy press conference isn't about a long program, but about every segment having a job: a clear message for the media, photo moments ready to use, and a guest star who gives them a reason to cover it.