Junji Watanabe  was born in 1976 in Japan, and received Ph. D. in Information Science and Technology from the University of Tokyo in 2005. 

2005-2011 Invited Researcher in NTT Communication Laboratories.

2005-2009 PRESTO Japan Science & Technology Agency
                 in Foundation of technology supporting the creation of digital media contents.

2009-2011 Research Fellow in Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

2011- 2013  Research Specialist in NTT Communication Science Laboratories.

2012- currently Visiting Associate Professor in Department of Information Processing,
  Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology

2013- currently  Scientist in NTT Communication Science Laboratories.

He studies cognitive science and communication devices with applied perception. His fields of interests are visual and haptic perception and communications.
His studies have been presented in international journals (Nature Neuroscience, Current Biology etc.) and international conferences (SIGGRAPH 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). 

He also exhibited his works in art festivals. He received honorary mentioned in Ars Electronica "NextIdea" 2004 and "empathetic heartbeat" 2011, and his works "Save YourSelf!!!" and "Slot Machine Drawing" were exhibited in Ars Electronica Center from 2007 to 2008, and "Saccade-based Display" is currently presented. His works were exhibited at Japan Media Arts Festival in 2006 (Jury Recommended Works), 2007 (Jury Recommended Works), and 2008 (Excellence Prize). He also works on the stage design of performing art with media performance unit "cell/66b". The collaboration started in 2001, and the works titled "test-patches" were performed in Ars Electronica 2002. 
Recent activities are Kobe biennale 2009, "Sensory Circuit Collection" at  Miraikan, National Museum for Emerging Science and Innovation (2009-2010), and " Cyber Arts Japan Ars Electronica - 30 years for Art and Media Technology" at Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (2010). Cyber Art Exhibition in  Ars Electronica Festival (2011). Jury of Prix Ars Electronica in Interactive Art category (2012).

Contact: watanabe.junji[at]lab.ntt.co.jp