Imagining the future makes work more fun - Osaka-Kansai Expo 2025’s Promotion “HAKARU MIRAI EXPO 2025 PROJECT”

The Osaka-Kansai Expo 2025 opened on April 13.
HORIBA is sponsoring the Signature Pavilion “Future of Life,” produced by Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University, a pioneer in android development and robotics, as a Bronze Partner.
In conjunction with our sponsorship of the Osaka-Kansai Expo 2025 (hereinafter referred to as the Expo), we established the “HAKARU MIRAI EXPO 2025 PROJECT”*1 within our company in July 2022 to promote the Expo initiatives. Since then, we have been working on co-creating the pavilion's exhibits and performances.
We interviewed members of the "HAKARU MIRAI EXPO 2025 PROJECT " about the insights they gained through the project and their thoughts on the Expo. (Part 2/Part 1 ⇒ Hakaru x "Light" for Attraction - Supporting Osaka-Kansai Expo 2025 - )

I am mainly responsible for planning and public relations related to manufacturing, and at the Signature Pavilion "Future of Life" sponsored by HORIBA, we have installed air quality monitor inside the pavilion and water quality analyzers in the surrounding water basin. Based on the measurement data collected from these monitor and analyzers, we generate two distinct wavelengths of light to create a visual expression of HORIBA’s original concept, “Shores: Edge of Evolution.”. Among the systems required for this production, I am particularly involved in the development of water quality analyzers and data processing, as well as coordination with internal and external teams . In addition, I planned and currently manage the "HORIBA Sorayomi Note™," which was created to promote the fun of "Analytical and Measurement" technologies driven by our sponsorship of the Expo.
When I first participated in the project, I mainly worked on launching new businesses at HORIBA Advanced Techno Co., Ltd.. Currently I am doing digital marketing, which is similar to public relations, and my experience I gained through this project has been a valuable asset in my current role.

I originally joined HORIBA as a service engineer, and through my experience launching new businesses while staying grounded in reality, I gradually began to envision the near future.. I joined this project because I thought it would be interesting to think deeply about what HORIBA could do in the future through "Analytical and Measurement"technologies. However, I had a hard time because many of the project members were quite pragmatic, as if they were manufacturers of measuring instruments, and when they imagined the future, they looked at it from the perspective of reality. It was difficult to develop a clear image of the future, because we were talking about performance and so on. This is also a characteristic of HORIBA.
Since  participating in this project, I had to think about the Expo in parallel with my daily work. my team and colleagues have been supportive. Thanks to HORIBA’s culture of mutual support and teamwork, it’s been relatively smooth to manage both.. I am also able to gain perspectives through project activities that I cannot gain in my daily work, and I find both fulfilling.

Of course, being realistic has its value, but I think that our work will be more enjoyable if we can imagine what the future will be like decades from now, and how HORIBA and the things we are involved in will look like there. Of course, there will be restrictions on realization, but the future we imagine exists  within us. It will surely be interesting to be able to answer that question someday. Although we’re often caught up in the busyness of day-to-day tasks, I hope each of us can find joy in imagining what lies just a little further ahead.

After a long period of preparation, the signature pavilion "Future of Life" was brought to life through the efforts of many people, and HORIBA's production "Shores: Edge of Evolution " has received a positive response. During the construction phase, there was a lot of anxiety about how the water quality analyzers  would actually look when placed here, but as the project progressed, it blended in and matched the worldview presented by Professor Ishiguro. It was a discovery to find it interesting. I highly encourage you to visit the venue. As with the other pavilions, the Expo site is full of excitement. I hope you will enjoy experiencing it for yourself and imagining the future.

Yoshinosuke Yasuda
HORIBA Advanced Techno, Co., Ltd.
Digital Marketing Team, Marketing Communications Department, Sales Division

Joined the company in 2007. In the “HAKARU MIRAI EXPO 2025 PROJECT”, he was in charge of planning and public relations for manufacturing, and demonstrated his ability in the study and coordination related to water quality meters. He has been working on the maintenance of water quality meters at the pavilion and the operation of the "HORIBA Sorayomi Note™" until the end of the Expo period.

**1 “HAKARU MIRAI EXPO 2025 PROJECT”
This project was formed by open recruitment across HORIBA group's companies in Japan (HORIBA, Ltd., HORIBA STEC, Co., Ltd. HORIBA Advanced Techno, Co.,Ltd. HORIBA TECHNO SERVICE, Co., Ltd.). It comprises 27 volunteers, regardless of age or company tenure, who wanted to be involved in the Expo. The project team was launched in July 2022, starting activities to envision a future society 50 years from now. In co-creation meetings with other sponsor companies, we discussed the “urban environment” of 2075 and considered HORIBA's future role in society.

(Date of interview: March 2025)
All names of organizations, affiliations, and positions mentioned in the text are current as of the time of the interview.

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