"Tsunagari-kan" Communication: Design of a New Telecommunication Environment and a Field Test with Family Members Living Apart

In this article, a new telecommunication environment for tsunagari-kan communication that enables users to exchange situational cues continuously and interactively via a network is described. In face-to-face communication or when communicators share one space physically, people exchange many situational cues. These cues allow one to sense or "feel" the other person, and they evoke emotional responses such as smiles and feelings of happiness. This tsunagari-kan communication aims at evoking thoughts about others in users' minds from cues or signs and at engendering tsunagari-kan (a sense of closeness to others), even when the individuals are in separate locations. This new style of telecommunication offers people comfort as if they are together, and it eventually helps them keep and foster their personal relationships. As the first step in verifying this concept, a communication terminal for family members living apart was developed, and a field test was run. This terminal facilitates the exchange of data about people's unconscious presence/motion cues and conscious touch signs. With an analysis of the field test results, the validity of this concept was confirmed.