ASOBISYSTEM, in collaboration with ParadeAll and Fracton Ventures, began selling images from the first issue of the legendary Tokyo culture magazine FRUiTS, created by the world-renowned photographer Shoichi Aoki, as NFTs. Sales took place within MetaTokyo, a global cultural city within the Metaverse.

The NFT Photography auction featured snapshots that have inspired some of the world’s most celebrated fashion designers and creators. An online talk event was also held on Twitter Spaces.

 ■Project Outline
・Street snaps from the first issue of FRUiTS magazine, launched in 1997, were auctioned on ‘Foundation,’ a major overseas NFT marketplace specializing in art. Sales began at 11:00 PM on January 7, 2022. The magazine notably made daily Harajuku street fashion known to the world in the early 2000s. NFT Photography is currently trending worldwide.

・The images sold as a part of this collection are the entire photograph before any editing or trimming took place. The uncropped versions capture more of the relationship between the subjects and their surroundings, making these different from those originally published in the magazine.

・MetaTokyo was launched as the world’s first project to use both new NFT technology and blockchains to distribute culture and entertainment around the world. The aim is to realize the creation of a Web3.0 movement in order to create a new society where culture and cities are connected.

・To coincide with the project’s launch, an online talk event with photographer Shoichi Aoki was held on the official FRUiTS and MetaTokyo Twitter accounts on January 7, 2022, starting at 10:00 pm.

FRUiTS Official Twitter: @FruitsMag
MetaTokyo Official Twitter: @themetatokyo

・An exclusive event for MetaTokyo PASS Holders was also held following the online talk event at 10:30 PM. Details could be found on the MetaTokyo Discord channel.

MetaTokyo Discord Channel: https://discord.com/invite/TS3rZfX283

Link to FRUiTS page in Foundation
FRUiTS NFT: https://foundation.app/@fruitsnft

Start of NFT Sales
FRUiTS NFT photographs went on sale starting January 7, 2022 at 11:00 PM.
Each piece went up for bid sequentially every 24 hours.

 ■About the Exhibition at the MetaTokyo Museum

SPACE by MetaTokyo Collaboration

・Decentraland, an open metaverse area created using NFTs, housed the  ‘SPACE by MetaTokyo’ pop-up museum. The location featured images and covers from the long history of FRUiTS magazine and will be continually updated.

SPACE by MetaTokyo Location
MetaTokyo inside Decentraland
Link: https://play.decentraland.org/?position=-117,-35
*Users must have an account to enter.

・To commemorate the start of this new project, the digital passport ‘MetaTokyo Pass’ was updated to the collaborative limited edition ‘MetaTokyo Pass Gen1.1.’ These were made available starting December 28, 2021 at 10:00 AM.

Collaborative Version of MetaTokyo PASS Gen1.1

■About MetaTokyo
The goals of MetaTokyo, a cultural city on the open metaverse utilizing unique NFTs, are as follows:
・Create and develop a growing digital city packed with current culture
・Use NFT technology to share Japan’s digital culture with the world
・Boost the global creator economy from Tokyo and actualize the Web3.0 movement

Official MetaTokyo Accounts
Website: https://metatokyo.xyz
Twitter: @themetatokyo

This project is seeking partners to help develop the area and to export unique digital culture together with MetaTokyo.

If interested, please contact us using the e-mail address below.
MetaTokyo Hub: contact@metatokyo.com

<About NFTs>
・Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are cryptographic assets on a blockchain with unique identification codes and metadata that distinguish them from each other. NFTs can represent real-world items like artwork, music, and real estate, and each comes with proof of ownership and a certificate of authenticity.
・Artists, musicians, and athletes from Japan and abroad are entering the market one after another seeking a new source of revenue and a new method of expression.

<About an Open Metaverse>
・The Metaverse refers to a virtual space created using 3DCG combined with NFTs. This allows users to purchase and trade land as well as digital items within this space.
・In Decentraland, users can engage in land transactions and can browse NFT galleries, company showrooms, and more.

<About Web3.0>
・Web3.0 refers to a new iteration of the World Wide Web based on blockchain technology, which includes concepts like decentralization and token-based economics. Many refer to this as a self-sovereign web as individuals will have complete control over the data.