[Q&A with Partner Companies #4] The Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan is now just six months away. What hopes and expectations do you have for the big event?
A large number of companies are taking part in the signature pavilion, Future of Life, each of which endorses the themes of the pavilion and the approaches of Producer ISHIGURO Hiroshi. In this series of articles, we intend to showcase what ideas, visions, and initiatives these companies have come up with in response to the themes of the pavilion and of the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan as a whole.
For the fourth article in this series, we asked partner companies the following question: The Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan is now just six months away. What hopes and expectations does your company have for the pavilion and for the Expo as a whole?
HASEKO Corporation
Employee excitement for the upcoming Expo has been building thanks to the momentum generated from the activities listed below. We have been entrusted with the construction of the Future of Life pavilion building. The project is proceeding smoothly, and expectations are growing as the building nears completion.
2. We have added a banner to our in-house portal website that links to the Future of Life pavilion website, and put up posters
3. We have created original licensed products
KOKUYO Co.,Ltd.
At KOKUYO, we have created numerous opportunities to share our initiatives for the Expo internally, which has led to growing excitement. Expectations for the event are high, with employees commenting that they can’t wait to see concrete details of the pavilion and the Expo, and that they are eager to see what the company’s proposals for the future of “learning” will look like.
Shionogi & Co., Ltd.
https://www.shionogi.com/jp/ja/
Expectations for the Expo, particularly for the Future of Life pavilion, have grown due to a talk that Prof. Ishiguro gave to our employees and ongoing communications with our employees taking part in the project. To create a visual sense of excitement for the Expo, we have displayed posters and stickers within our company offices and are wearing special badges and other goods. We are looking forward to attending the Expo and experiencing everything it has to offer in person.
Sysmex Corporation
Our conversations with Prof. Ishiguro were wide-ranging, spanning technologies, the future, and even philosophy. We engaged in discussions on various issues—not only what the future will be like 50 years from now, but also the strengths and challenges of present-day society. These discussions have allowed our project members to develop a more holistic point of view, enabling them to come up with ideas for the “future of healthcare” from a broader and more creative perspective. Anticipation within the company is growing as to how these ideas will be transformed into our exhibition in the pavilion.
Japan Federation of Kaigo Business Providers Consortium Expo 2025
From the perspective of Japan Federation of Kaigo Business Providers Consortium Expo 2025 as a whole, we are not yet able to confirm that there are high expectations for the Expo to result in significant changes. However, all our project members participating in the Co-creation Meetings have developed a sense of responsibility toward the future. Within the Japan Federation of Kaigo Business Providers, which is a nursing care industry group and the parent body of our organization, some senior management members appear to be beginning to feel inspired to drive DX in nursing care, and use technology to increase the participation of people with disabilities in society.
DENSO CORPORATION
We tried to envisage how mobility itself and the significance it provides to society will evolve in the future; we then sought new research themes and projects aimed at making the people who will live in this future society happier. Our project members shared details of the discussions from the Co-creation Meetings, which sparked lively debates regarding how DENSO will contribute to the mobility society of the future.
Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, Inc.
https://www.hankyu-hanshin.co.jp/
On April 13, 2024—exactly one year before the Expo begins—we operated the Hankyu EXPO TRAIN as one of our initiatives to maximize the value of mobility. The train included markets selling products from regions along the train line, and featured decorations and performances that enabled customers to experience the world as it was in 1970—when the previous Osaka Expo was held—and the future. The EXPO TRAIN enabled us to provide a new form of mobility-centered experiential value, in which customers could enjoy encountering people, things, and experiences.
KYOCERA Corporation
When we first signed up to participate in the Future of Life pavilion, we were still determining the form of our partnership. Now that our role has been defined as a technical partner, we are supplying products and developing new technologies to ensure the exhibition clearly showcases the pavilion’s vision of the future. As the opening approaches, we’ve united our team through internal and external collaborations, working together to develop new technologies so visitors can truly appreciate the visions for the future displayed at the pavilion.
HEART-S CO., LTD.
Over the course of meetings, Prof. Ishiguro’s concept for the pavilion began to take shape, and our project team deepened its understanding of his vision. Internally, there are limited opportunities for those outside the project team to access detailed information about the event. Now that we have reached the six-months-to-go mark and can disclose more details, we will promptly share them within the company to build excitement. There is growing anticipation regarding the final design of the pavilion and how visitors will respond to the experience.
Fujikin Incorporated
As the Expo approaches, awareness of it is increasing within our company. At Fujikin, every year we create our very own A1-size Super Calendar, and in the 2024 version we printed a project page featuring an interview with Prof. Ishiguro. We distribute the calendars outside the company and use them at our plants and sales offices, contributing to growing anticipation for the Expo both internally and externally. Now that our employees have read the interview and deepened their understanding of the pavilion’s themes, they are more excited about to the “future” they will experience at the Expo.
HORIBA, Ltd.
We held an internal event for employees to meet MYAKU-MYAKU, and this helped unite the company in its ambition to energize the Expo. Indeed, our motivation has grown to ensure that visitors not only recognize but also feel excited about the hidden possibilities that “measurement and analysis” can reveal. We are enthusiastic about how co-creating broadens our worldview. At the same time, we are engaged in a process of trial and error to find the best way to express this motivation and are working on to spread this excitement.
Iwase Cosfa Co., Ltd.
There is just six months to go until the Expo, and we have featured it in our company newsletters to raise employee awareness. We have also launched a project to discuss what Iwase Cosfa can do to contribute to the Expo and ensure its success. By inspiring our customers to become actively involved, we aim to heighten expectations for the Expo.
TOYO BEAUTY CO., LTD.
With only six months remaining until the Expo opens, there has been a significant increase in Expo-related communications around the city. Interest and expectations for the event have been steadily growing within our company as well. Last December, we hosted a talk by Prof. Ishiguro on the topic of “The Expo and Future Society.” Attendees were impressed by the depth and dynamism of the talk, commenting on how much more they were now looking forward to seeing the Expo in person.
SHIONO KORYO KAISHA, LTD.
Smell plays a significant role in our lives, but scents are an invisible stimulus. We have been entrusted to communicate with visitors to the Expo through the medium of smell: how can we use smell to amplify the world of the pavilion? This is, for us, an extremely exciting challenge.
