NTT has announced the details of the NTT pavilion to be exhibited at the Osaka-Kansai Expo. The theme of the pavilion is “PARALLEL TRAVEL”. By moving around three different zones, from Zone 1 to Zone 3, visitors will be invited on a journey that transcends time and space.
President Akira Shimada says, “NTT has supported the evolution of communication along with the development of technology. What is a happy evolution? The NTT Group has been discussing what we should do now for the future.”
The pavilion will present the future of communication. It is communication that makes you feel the presence of someone as if they are next to you, even if you are far away. Specifically, it will provide the world’s first experience of spatial transmission in real time. By connecting Suita’s Expo Memorial Park and the NTT pavilion with IOWN, the two spaces will be integrated by transmitting touch and vibration in addition to sight and hearing without delay, providing an experience that makes you feel as if you are next to someone. Pop group Perfume will also be appearing as guest performers.
“In the future society, distance will have very little impact on people, and we will be able to communicate as if the other person is right next to us, using our five senses of touch, smell, and taste in addition to sight and hearing,” Shimada said.
An example of communication that allows you to feel the same space through the five senses is spending time with a friend in a tropical country while in Japan. You can communicate while feeling the warmth of your friend’s 3D hand and the hot tropical weather.
Another example would be a scene in which a man building a city on the moon and his family on Earth take a walk on the moon together on a holiday. One scenario would be spending time as a family, feeling each other’s touch and gazing at the vastness of outer space and the beautiful Earth.

We will also provide a communication experience in which people’s emotions and senses are linked to objects. Imagine this: when spectators at a soccer stadium are happy or sad, the stadium will shine or shake depending on their emotions.
Or, imagine a person walking down the street with a white cane and an anxious look on their face. The city itself would support their movement by detecting their facial expression and using voice to guide them to a safe route, or at an intersection, turning the light red only after detecting that the person has safely crossed the street.
“We envision an inclusive future where things respond to people’s feelings,” said Shimada.
At the NTT pavilion, visitors’ facial expressions are analyzed in real time using IOWN optical computing, and the more smiles there are, the more the pavilion curtain will shake, conveying excitement to people outside the pavilion.
NTT’s technologies include “dynamic 3D spatial transmission reproduction technology” and “tactile vibration sound field presentation technology.” Dynamic 3D spatial transmission reproduction technology senses moving objects, including the surrounding space, and converts them into a point cloud in real time. Tactile vibration sound field timing technology does not simply measure vibrations, but also grasps the object’s position information as an acoustic space.
President Shimada said, “In the future society where AI is used in various situations, we want to realize power consumption with light. This is the second message that NTT wants to convey at the Expo.”
With the emergence of generative AI, AI will be used at an unprecedented rate. The AI ​​market is expected to grow 20 times in 2030 compared to the actual results in 2021.
Meanwhile, the power consumption of data centers, which are the bases for AI processing, is expected to exceed the power consumption of the entire Tokyo in 2022 in 2030, and the power consumption of the entire Japan in 2022 in 2050.
President Shimada emphasized, “The IOWN concept aims to achieve both convenience and a rich life through the advancement of AI, and low power consumption.”
At the Expo, photonics-electronics convergence devices will be applied to computers to reduce power consumption to one-eighth.
This will be a big step toward realizing a low-power society with light. Taking advantage of its use at the Expo, the plan is to commercialize IOWN optical computing in fiscal year 2026 and further accelerate its development.

Another Me Planetで未来の仕事に就いているもう一人の自分と対話（Another Me Planet: Talk to your other self who is working in the future）

The NTT Pavilion is made up of three buildings.
Zone 1 is the prologue, where visitors can experience the evolution and continuity of communication. In Zone 2, the main experience, visitors can wear 3D glasses and enjoy Perfume’s performance in 3D spatial transmission by IOWN.
Zone 3 allows visitors to encounter the possibilities of the future. Specifically, visitors can experience “Another Me Planet,” an original content that enhances the “Another Me” experience. Visitors can create their own “Another Me,” receive a message in their own synthesized voice from Another Me in a future job that does not exist now, using voice synthesis technology from NTT laboratories, and experience a conversation using NTT’s LLM “tsuzumi.”
The experience takes about 20 minutes, and each tour is planned for a maximum of 70 people.
NTT will also exhibit a pavilion at the Virtual Expo, another World Expo. The Virtual NTT Pavilion will have the atmosphere of a real pavilion, but will provide an experience that can only be experienced in a virtual world. The highlight is the “Another Me Planet” experience, where you can have a conversation with another version of yourself working in a future job. First, you take a photo of your face and answer a few questions, and then another version of yourself working in a future job will appear and you can have a conversation with it.

One of the concepts of the Osaka-Kansai Expo is a “test ground for future society.” NTT will provide IOWN and introduce a number of use cases with an eye toward future society.
For example, the opening event on Sunday, April 13th will be “10,000 Symphony No. 9.” IOWN will be used to bring together a chorus of 10,000 people scattered across each venue.
On the NTT Pavilion Days on May 24th (Sat) and 25th (Sun), “Cho Kabuki <CHO-KABUKI> Powered by IOWN ‘Konjaku Kyoen Senbonzakura Expo 2025 ver.'” will be performed. Utilizing the world’s first international IOWN that connects Japan and Taiwan, real kabuki will be linked with virtual Taiwanese traditional performing arts.

In addition, a remote agricultural machinery operation experience will be held. Expo Messe and Hokkaido University’s farm will be connected by IOWN, allowing participants to seamlessly operate agricultural machinery more than 1,200 kilometers away.

A live viewing of the Kobe Storks, a member of the basketball league “B.League,” will be held at the Expo site. This will provide a new viewing experience that shares the atmosphere of the game site.

During the Expo, an editing environment combining IOWN and a data center will be developed so that Osaka-based broadcasting stations can produce programs without bringing relay vehicles to the Yumeshima site. It will realize the shared use of a remote production environment.
In addition, during the Expo, a spectacular show of light and sound, digital and physical will be held after sunset. IOWN will be used to synchronize the projection mapping and signage within the venue.
In addition, a “touching story” will be set up that utilizes IOWN. In addition to sound and video, it will be possible to send tactile and vibrational sensations to each other. For example, it will be possible to share the sense of touch, such as high-fiving someone far away.

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