Lifestyle changes and digitalization have reduced opportunities for face-to-face, intimate communication, which is an indispensable activity for human beings. We have realized a method that allows intimate communication between two persons even though they are faraway from each other by integrating multimodal technologies. Sync Sofa is a new sofa-type communication tool. It senses the partner with a camera, microphones, and accelerometers. The sensed data are cross-modally integrated and then presented to the user through a life-size display, multichannel loudspeakers, and multichannel vibrotactile actuators. We have received positive feedback from many users who have experienced Sync Sofa, such as, "I felt like the other person was really sitting next to me".

One of the challenges of non-face-to-face communication is the absence of the haptic dimension. To solve this, a haptic communication system via the Internet has been proposed. The system has to be designed in such a way that it does not create discomfort during general use. The "Sync Glass" that we have developed transmits and presents the feeling of pouring a drink and making a toast accompanied by haptic, sound and visual effects. The device is designed to resemble a glass cup and, moreover, each action, including drinking and making a toast is performed in the customary way, making its use more acceptable to users. In the internal user demonstrations we performed, the experience has been reviewed with participants saying that "the feeling of pouring is so realistic", "so enjoyable!", and similar affirmative statements.