Culture

Tokyo's Shinjuku district adopted a giant, four-story 3D CGI cat

The 4K, 1664-square-foot LED screen houses a talking cat from 7am-1am every day.

A heartfelt “congratulations” is in order for Tokyo’s Shinjuku district, which recently unveiled a new addition to the family — this unsettling, gigantic, 4K CGI talking cat that now lords over one of the city’s busiest rail stations. The building, referred to as the Cross Shinjuku Vision according to its official site, stands four stories tall, the first three of which will reportedly be used as event space, with the top section reserved for its nearly 1700-square-foot 4K LED screen capable of three-dimensional illusions like the aforementioned, terrifying talking calico feline.

Although the eye-catcher isn’t set to go live full-time until next week, passersby have posted a number of clips on social media showcasing the building’s test footage. Once officially live on July 12, the LED screen will project videos up to 18 hours a day, including intermittent footage of the humongous cat rendered in three dimensions thanks to its anamorphic illusion. Apparently, the full effect is only available at “a specific vantage point,” according to Designboom, which we assume can only mean the thing is absolutely horrifying from any other nearby spot on the street.

A prime feline location — These kinds of massive, 3D video screens are increasingly popular in high-traffic locations, particularly in cities like Tokyo and Seoul. It’s understandable from a business perspective, seeing as how Cross Shinjuku Vision’s website boasts that the screen will be seen by around 190,000 people each weekday, and up to 230,000 on holidays. That’s a lot of eyes on whatever products the company gets paid to push between its quick cat clips.

Bow before your new feline god anytime — Don’t worry: the morbidly curious among you won’t need to jet over to Shinjuku to watch the new giant cat in real-time (although it might be worth it for Super Nintendo World). Cross Shinkuju Vision is currently offering an aerial livestream of the building, along with even a 180-degree VR version for the truly dedicated among you. Cat vids commence approximately six times an hour between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., although the video description notes it won’t look exactly stereoscopic from the camera’s angle. According to our research, the streams will shut down on July 11, right before the video screen is set for its official, full-time debut... at which time we assume the internet will be flooded with all manner of gigantic cat videos.