【MYAKU-MYAKU Celebrates!】 EXPO FUTURES AWARD 2026 Ceremony

Watch the EXPO FUTURES AWARD 2026 ceremony, with a special visit from MYAKU-MYAKU! These awards recognize people and projects carrying forward the questions and challenges born at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai.

At the October 12, 2026 ceremony, judges Sou Fujimoto, Hiroaki Miyata and Hiroki Kutsuna joined the winners; MYAKU-MYAKU came to congratulate them. Thematic awardees shared their reactions, and jury award citations were read aloud. Discover how encounters at the Expo continue to inspire real-world action.
【EXPO FUTURES AWARD 2026】
Recognizing individuals and initiatives extending Expo 2025's challenges into the future.
Themes: Co-creating Future Culture; Future Communities and Mobility; Future of Food and Living; Health and Well-being; Learning and Play; Peace and Human Rights; Earth's Future and Biodiversity; SDGs + Beyond.
Jury chair: Juichi Yamagiwa
Judges: Junko Koshino, Sou Fujimoto, Hiroaki Miyata, Hiroki Kutsuna.

EXPO FUTURES AWARD 2026 EXHIBITION: October 12, 2026, 12:00–19:00, PLAT UMEKITA, South Park, Umekita Park, Grand Green Osaka, 5-94 Ofukacho, Kita Ward, Osaka.
Organizer: Resonance of the Forest of Tranquility Association
Co-organizer: Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition
Support: Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; Osaka Prefecture; Osaka City; Kansai Economic Federation; Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Kansai Association of Corporate Executives.
【Thematic Special Awards】
• Co-creating Future Culture — “Traces of Earth”; YuricaDesign&Architecture, studio m!kke and studio on_site. Reinterprets “regrettable stones” cut for Osaka Castle but never transported, through dialogue and architecture; judges noted continued student involvement.
• Future Communities and Mobility — “Machigoto Expo”; demoexpo and Osaka Machigoto Expo Co-creation Platform (Osaka Chamber of Commerce, prefectural/city Expo Promotion Bureau, Kansai economic bodies). Over 100 projects transform the city into another Expo venue.
• Future of Food and Living — “Smart Circular Food Production Using Expo Legacy Spring of Life”; Osaka Metropolitan University Plant Factory Research Center. Moves the Expo's globe-shaped aquaponics exhibit to the university, combining it with plant-factory and fine-bubble research and teaching.
• Health and Well-being — “A Society Where Everyone Can Live as Themselves at Any Time”; Heisei Medical Welfare Group. Supports preferred lifestyles regardless of illness or disability, including eliminating physical restraints and helping people continue eating by mouth.
• Learning and Play — “Aquaponics: Medaka, Vegetables, Turtles and Me”; fourth-grader Asahi Sugiyama. Recreates Expo aquaponics using plastic bottles to raise fish and grow vegetables.
• Peace and Human Rights — “Children Co-creating the Future: Peace Education Resonating with Life”; Nakayoshi Gakuen Project NPO. Children's peace and disaster-prevention materials are shared overseas, with responses returned to classrooms through a CoRe Loop.
• Earth's Future and Biodiversity — “Inspiring Solutions for Sustainable Communities”; City of Kranj, Slovenia. Engages people in decarbonization and groundwater protection through sport, photography and research.
• SDGs + Beyond — “Building Global Commons Centered on Life”; Inochi Kaigi association. Continuing the Expo's “Inochi Declaration” through collecting voices and collaboration, working toward an “Inochi Declaration 2030.”
【Jury Special Awards】
• Future Communities and Mobility — “FactorISM: An OS for Regional Economic Revitalization”; FactorISM. Opens Kansai factories to the public for factory tours, music, art and food experiences.
• Health and Well-being — “A Town Where People with Dementia Can Shine: One Million Origami Cranes”; Yume-Tomo Project in Kadoma. People with dementia help connect their communities through crane-making and other activities.
• Learning and Play — “Osaka-Kansai Expo Design Exhibition”; Yomiuri Shimbun, VISIONs, Ningen and 1-10. Explores the Expo's logo, MYAKU-MYAKU and design system.
• Earth's Future and Biodiversity — “From Sand Alliance to Tottori Sand Pavilion”; Tottori Prefecture. Carries Jordan Pavilion's red sand and Expo displays into regional cultural exchange.
• SDGs + Beyond — “Foresting Architecture”; Foresting Architecture team. Structures made with biodegradable plant-based resin and seed-containing paper aim to return to natural cycles after the building's life.
【Finalists】
• Co-creating Future Culture — “Kansai University Seishikan Reconstruction Plan: Passing Expo Ideals to the Future”; Kansai University. Plans to reuse Grand Ring columns, beams and CLT in a new student hall by 2029.
• Co-creating Future Culture — “Art Connecting Okayama's Future and Community Development”; Ishikawa Foundation. Connects contemporary art and neighborhoods through Okayama Art Summit and Rabbit Hole.
• Future Communities and Mobility — “Village Sports Day with Remote-controlled Avatar Robots as Festival Floats”; Keihanna Avatar Challenge NPO. Enables participation beyond physical or geographic barriers.
• Future of Food and Living — “Chronicles of Sowing Seeds”; organic market Taneto. Records heirloom seeds, local dishes and farming traditions.
• Learning and Play — “Expo Book Club: Read, Discover, Discuss”; Mitsumasa Okazaki. Brings together books inspired by Expo experiences for learning through dialogue.
• Learning and Play — “Invention Classes Using the Mysterious Stone echorb”; Murata Manufacturing and Ritsumeikan STEAM industry–academia project. Uses the Expo's echorb to explore social problems and future solutions.
• Peace and Human Rights — “Circles of Water, Time and the World: Creating the Future Through Noh”; Yamamoto Noh Theater Foundation. Passes on traditional performing arts through performances involving children and new Noh works.
• Earth's Future and Biodiversity — “Hamanako Hakkenden: A New Way to Travel with Dogs”; Hamanako Hakkenden Project. Connects pet-friendly travel with tourism, animal welfare and disaster preparedness.
• SDGs + Beyond — “Seed FOR The Future”; Sachiko NAGAKAWA. Planting leftover seeds invites reflection on nature and the future.

Filmed and reported by Happyell:
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