SDGs+Beyond Future Society for Life Week
Resonance and Forest - From the Breaking Tower(1970) to the Opening Sky(2025)
EXPO 2025 Thematic Project "Resonance of Lives" (Producer MIYATA Hiroaki)
This program led by Producer Hiroaki Miyata under the thematic initiative "Resonating Lives." Together with guests and attendees, we will think about and envision the potential future society that "Better Co-Being" offers, focusing on the ideas of "connecting together and living together.
*This programme was scheduled to open 14:30, start 15:00, and end 16:00, but has been changed to open 13:30, start 14:00, and end 16:00. Those with reservations may enter the Theme Weeks Studio from 13:30.
While you may still enter after 14:30 as originally planned to enjoy only the main session, the programme has been enhanced. We therefore encourage you to arrive at the 13:30 opening time to enjoy the performance commencing at 14:00.
Recorded video available
Discussion
- future society
- life
| Transmission of simultaneous interpretation | Provided |
|---|---|
| Language of interpretation | Japanese and English |
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Signature Programme
- Time and
Date of
the event -
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2025.10.08[Wed]
14:00 ～ 16:00
(Venue Open 13:30)
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- Venue
- Theme Weeks Studio
Programme details
＊*Subtitles: Choose “Subtitles/CC” in the “Settings” (gear icon) at the bottom right of the YouTube video.
*Subtitles may not show with multiple languages or overlapping audio.
**A Collaborative Platform Bridging to the Future**
This concluding event serves as a bridge to the future, reflecting on the pathways to sustainability highlighted at the Expo. Centered around the theme "Forest of Tranquility," we will explore new possibilities. Led by Thematic Project Producer Hiroaki Miyata, the program focuses on "connecting and living together" under the Better Co-Being concept, striving toward the realization of a future society. Join various experts in exploring the potential of co-creation.
*This programme was scheduled to open 14:30, start 15:00, and end 16:00, but has been changed to open 13:30, start 14:00, and end 16:00. Those with reservations may enter the Theme Weeks Studio from 13:30.
While you may still enter after 14:30 as originally planned to enjoy only the main session, the programme has been enhanced. We therefore encourage you to arrive at the 13:30 opening time to enjoy the performance commencing at 14:00.
Reports
【Reflection】
Wednesday, October 8, 2025, ahead of the Expo's closing, speakers included Hiroaki Miyata, Sou Fujimoto, Osaka Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama, landscape design director Hiroki Kutsuna (responsible for the overall Expo landscape and the planting of the Forest of Tranquility), and SANAA (Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa), who designed the “Better Co-Being” architecture resonating with the forest, took the stage. They discussed the values and significance of the initiatives built through the Osaka-Kansai Expo, and activities to connect them to the future, in the program “Resonance and Forest - From the Piercing Tower (1970) to the Open Sky (2025)” held at the Theme Week Studio within the venue.
Located at the venue's center, the “Forest of Silence” was created as a symbol of the Expo theme “Designing Future Society for All Life” and has drawn attention as a place where visitors can resonate with nature. The “Yumeshima Phase 2 Area Master Plan Ver. 2.0 (Draft)” announced by Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City in June 2025 outlined a policy to preserve the Forest of Silence's plantings even after the Expo concludes.
This event explored the ideas and co-creation processes born through the Expo, and how to connect them to the future. Discussions centered on the nature of “resonance” in future society and prospects for shaping the post-event legacy.
Part 1: Expo 2025 and National Area Plans
Part 1 featured Hiroaki Miyata, Theme Project Producer for the Osaka-Kansai Expo; Mario Vattani, Italian Government Representative for the Osaka-Kansai Expo; and Mohamed Al-Dahlaoui, Media Director for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Pavilion. They discussed Expo 2025 and the area plans of participating nations.
Part 2: Osaka's Potential Post-Expo
Part 2 featured Hiroaki Miyata (from Part 1), venue design producer Sou Fujimoto, Osaka Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama, and landscape design director Yuki Kutsuna (responsible for planting in the Forest of Silence), who discussed Osaka's potential after the Expo.
Part 3: The City Beyond Expo 2025
In Part 3, alongside Mr. Hiroaki Miyata and Mr. Sou Fujimoto from Part 2, SANAA (Ms. Kazuyo Sejima and Mr. Ryue Nishizawa), who designed the “Better Co-Being” architecture resonating with the forest, took the stage to discuss the city beyond Expo 2025.
【Post EXPO Initiatives】
Each section suggested a vision for the period following the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan.
Part 1: The 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo and National Area Plans
Mr. Vattani stated that the design of the “Grand Roof Ring” conveyed a sense of multilateral cooperation, adding, “Cities change through expos.” Reflecting on the Italian Pavilion, he noted its success in conveying essence through authentic displays of art and food culture. Mr. Al-Dahlawi of Saudi Arabia communicated a vision of sustainable cities alongside new Saudi attractions through immersive wind-feeling visuals and cuisine blending Japanese elements. Mr. Miyata emphasized, “Diversity is conveyed only through the five senses.”
Part 2: Osaka's Potential Post-Expo
Mr. Miyata emphasized that “people are the greatest legacy,” stressing the value of spaces that can only be conveyed through real experiences. Mayor Yokoyama suggested that a city's richness lies not in efficiency but in ‘leisure’ and “inefficiency,” and that Osaka's distinctive open culture and sensibility are essential for future urban development.
Mr. Miyata explained that the Expo space was designed as a dual structure of “festivity” and ‘introspection’ through the “Grand Roof Ring” and the “Forest of Silence,” consciously creating landscapes where visitors could find their own place. Mr. Kutsuna, who expressed the coexistence of plantings and people at the Expo site, advocated for the necessity of coexisting spaces for nature and people within the city.
Mayor Yokoyama stated, “We aim to apply this experience to future city development and further refine our appeal as an international city.”
Part 3: The City After the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo
Using the roofless and wall-less “Better Co-Being” Pavilion as an example, Ms. Sejima explained that considering how we relate to various environments provides an opportunity to reexamine the relationship between people and nature. She stressed the importance of people engaging with this awareness in future urban development.
Nishizawa remarked that cities are part of human life, and the sense of perceiving them as an extension of ourselves will become increasingly vital in the coming era. He stated that “architecture is the very environment for living,” asserting that what the future of cities needs is not “rigidly organized hardness” but “flexible coexistence.”
Mr. Fujimoto described how the “Ring,” though seemingly rigid and massive at first glance, reveals softness as people approach and ascend it, suggesting architecture can pose questions and present new relationships between cities and people.
Cities have maintained order by “building walls,” but now “dissolving boundaries” will be the key to nurturing new economies and cultures. Such proposals for a future beginning with architecture were presented.
Cast
Moderator
Hiroaki Miyata
Osaka-Kansai Expo 2025 Theme Project Producer / Keio University School of Medicine
Professor at Keio University School of Medicine. Completed a master's program in Health Sciences and Nursing at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Medicine in 2003. Holds a Ph.D. in Health Sciences (by dissertation) from the same field. Data scientist. Engages in research activities aimed at challenging social transformation and contributing to the betterment of reality, utilizing sciences such as data science.
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Speakers
David Vintiner
Sou Fujimoto
Osaka-Kansai Expo 2025 Planning and Supervision
Sou Fujimoto was born in Hokkaido in 1971.
Graduated from the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering at Tokyo University, he established Sou Fujimoto Architects in 2000.
Among his recent renowned projects is the 1st prize for the 2014 International Competition for the Second Folly of Montpellier, France ("L'Arbre Blanc"). Additionally in 2015, 2017 and 2018, he won several international competitions with 1st prize in various European countries. In Japan, he was selected as the Expo site design producer for the 2025 Japan International Exposition (Osaka/Kansai Expo). In 2024, he was selected for “Subcontract for the Basic Design of the International Center Station Northern Area Complex (Tentative)” in Sendai, Miyagi.
His notable works include; “House of Music” (2021), “MARUHON makiart terrace (Ishinomaki Cultural Center)” (2021), “SHIROIYA HOTEL” (2020), “L’Arbre Blanc” (2019), “Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013” (2013), “House NA” (2011), “Musashino Art University Museum & Library” (2010), “House N” (2008) and many more.
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Hiroki Kutsuna
Osaka-Kansai Expo 2025 Landscape Designer
By utilizing the techniques of landscape and environmental
design of parks, plazas, roads, and rivers, mastering the use of the space,
and simultaneously planning and implementing the sustainable management and system creation, he aims to realize a new public and create attractive public spaces, and has worked on numerous projects. He is also active in the field of landscape design for universities, hospitals, schools, commercial facilities, and housing both domestically and internationally.
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SANAA
Kazuyo Sejima
Architectural Design for the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo ‘Better Co-Being’ / Architect / Director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum
Born in Ibaraki Prefecture in 1956. Completed postgraduate studies at Japan Women's University in 1981.
Established Kazuyo Sejima Architects in 1987, and co-founded SANAA with Ryue Nishizawa in 1995.
Served as Chief Curator of the 12th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale in 2010.
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SANAA
Ryue Nishizawa
Architectural Design for the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo ‘Better Co-Being’ / Architect / Professor, Yokohama National University Graduate School of Architecture (Y-GSA)
Born 1966. Completed postgraduate studies at Yokohama National University Graduate School in 1990.
After working at Kazuyo Sejima Architectural Design Office, co-founded SANAA with Kazuyo Sejima in 1995.
Established Ryue Nishizawa Architectural Design Office in 1997.
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Hideyuki Yokoyama
Vice Chairman, Osaka-Kansai Expo 2025 / Mayor of Osaka City
Born in 1981. Graduated from the Faculty of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University in 2004.
Joined the Osaka Prefectural Government in 2004. Elected to the Osaka Prefectural Assembly in 2011.
Assumed office as Mayor of Osaka City in 2023.
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Mohammed Al-Dahlawi
Media Director, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Pavilion
As an expert and consultant for the Saudi Arabian Ministry of
Economy and Planning, he was involved in the operational management of the Japan-Saudi Vision 2030 initiative. Since 2019, he has served as the Representative of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Investment Tokyo Office. Currently, he serves as the Media Director for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Pavilion, holding overall responsibility for all communications.
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H.E. Amb. Mario Vattani
Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka－Kansai
Born in France in 1966. After graduating from Sapienza University of
Rome, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1991. From 2001 to 2003, he served as Foreign Affairs Advisor to the Italian Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and from 2008 to 2011, as Foreign Affairs Advisor to the Mayor of Rome. Selected as a trainee for the EU's ETP JAPAN program in 2003, where he acquired Japanese language skills. Served as a visiting researcher at the Institute of Japanese Culture, Takushoku University from 2013 to 2014.
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Co-organiser
Asahi Group Japan, Ltd.
More Information
SDGs+Beyond Future Society for Life Week
Resonance and Forest - From the Breaking Tower(1970) to the Opening Sky(2025)
This program led by Producer Hiroaki Miyata under the thematic initiative "Resonating Lives." Together with guests and attendees, we will think about and envision the potential future society that "Better Co-Being" offers, focusing on the ideas of "connecting together and living together.
*This programme was scheduled to open 14:30, start 15:00, and end 16:00, but has been changed to open 13:30, start 14:00, and end 16:00. Those with reservations may enter the Theme Weeks Studio from 13:30.
While you may still enter after 14:30 as originally planned to enjoy only the main session, the programme has been enhanced. We therefore encourage you to arrive at the 13:30 opening time to enjoy the performance commencing at 14:00.
-
2025.10.08[Wed]
14:00～16:00
(Venue Open 13:30)
- Theme Weeks Studio
- * Programme times and content are subject to change. Any changes will be announced on this website and via the ticket booking system.
- * The schedule is subject to change depending on the organiser's circumstances.
OTHER PROGRAM
SDGs+Beyond Future Society for Life Week
