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NTT Pavilion
Theme:Parallel Travel
A Pavilion where visitors could travel across space and time.
Spatial transfer technology which utilized the IOWN next-generation telecommunications infrastructure to connect remote locations and spaces together.
Making it possible to share an environment beyond physical distance and to truly sense each other’s presence.
Our vision of the future of communication was presented as an interactive exhibition experience.
OVERVIEW
The NTT Pavilion offered three zones showcasing futuristic visions of communication.
Zone 1
Zone 1
In the evolution of communication, there remain divides that cannot be crossed.
What about the emotions and sensations that lie beyond technology?
Zone 2
Zone 2
What if those divides could be crossed?
When time and space merge into one,new sensations begin to emerge.
Zone 3
Zone 3
Create your own double —
Another Me —
and discover new possibilities of “us.”
Architectural ConceptEmotional architecture
A Pavilion that floated gently and lightly.
Open like a park, it brought together greenery, light, sky, visitors, wanderers, and countless overlapping moments.
Thread-like structures emitted sound, while cloth swaying in the wind created shade to gently cover people.
They responded to feelings and excitement with vibrations, making the entire Pavilion ripple as though it were a living being with emotions.
Human presence, the shifting of nature, the subtleties of emotion, and the behaviour of the digital.
All diverse, yet all as one.
An architecture of coexistence, wrapped in emotion.
Zone 1
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Overview
From letters and telegrams to the telephone, and finally to the Internet. The development of communication technologies has enabled people to communicate over vast distances. And yet, there are still aspects of connection that remain incomplete.
Feelings that cannot be put in words. Emotions that cannot be conveyed with video and audio alone. The subtle presence and atmosphere we sense simply by being together.
Communication in the IOWN era seeks to value what past technologies could not fully capture.
It invites the connection between you, me, and the world into a new dimension.
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Description of exhibit
The exhibit features a giant LED screen stretching across an entire wall. In front of it stand the tools and devices that have carried human communication: letters, telegrams, telephones, smartphones... After tracing the ever-expanding history of communication shaped by these technologies, the venue falls into darkness. The giant LED screen then displays “moments where hearts connect” from around the world. that even today’s advanced technology cannot fully convey.
Feelings that cannot be conveyed with words. Emotions that cannot be expressed with video. Moods, atmosphere, and subtleties of the human heart that can only be felt when people are together. A message asks the audience: “Have we connected in the truest sense of the word?”
Zone 2
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Description of exhibit
This exhibit connected the site of the Telecommunication Pavilion in 1970 (Suita, Osaka) with the site of the NTT Pavilion in 2025 (Yumeshima) to provide the world’s first entertainment-communication experience, which shared emotions across space and time. A whole-space experience for reliving the IOWN×Perfume live performance held on April 2, 2025.
Background
At Expo ’70 in Osaka, the predecessor of NTT, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation, created the Telecommunication Pavilion. Based on the theme of “Humanity and Communication,” the exhibit showcased cutting-edge technologies such as wireless telephones and videophones, to enable visitors to experience a vision of futuristic communication. More than 50 years have passed. Although technology has advanced, the world is still divided and separated. In this divided age, the Expo once again arrived as an opportunity. NTT thought about how they would like to present future possibilities of communication to those who will live in the days to come. The core of this vision was the IOWN next-generation communication infrastructure. By transcending the limits of information communicated with video and audio and connecting entire spaces together, IOWN achieved communication where it felt like the person we were communicating with was really next to us.
Telecommunication Pavilion site of Expo ‘70 in Suita
NTT set up a special stage at the site of the Telecommunication Pavilion at Expo ‘70. Perfume held a performance there.
NTT Pavilion at Expo 2025 in Yumeshima
The transferred data was expressed as three-dimensional objects in real-time on a 3D LED screen. Combined with vibration and lighting, an entire space could be recreated.
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Description of technology
Seven unique systems consisting of three LiDAR sensors and one optical camera were positioned at a special stage located at the site of the Telecommunication Pavilion site of Expo ’70 in Suita, Osaka. The movement of Perfume was measured as 3D point cloud data and sent to the Yumeshima venue in real-time. The Yumeshima side then rendered Perfume as three-dimensional video on a 3D LED screen, while freely changing the viewpoint. This was the first attempt in the world to express real-time 3D point cloud data as 3D video.
Perfume members wore acceleration sensors with a special system combining position tracking sensors and data on the vibrations caused by the trio’s feet during the performance, which was also captured as positional information. On the Yumeshima side, 128 oscillators were embedded in the floor to recreate the remote performance by vibrating the entire floor, which made visitors really feel like they were there at the live performance.
The vast amount of data on the performance was transferred by utilizing the high-speed, high-capacity, and low-latency of the photonics-based IOWN-APN network environment installed by NTT around the entire venue of the Expo. By transferring the data from the Expo ’70 Commemorative Park to the NTT Pavilion in Yumeshima, visitors were able to experience a vision of future entertainment where it felt like they were right beside Perfume.
*LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging): Sensor technology for measuring and understanding spaces in the real world. Laser light retrieves three-dimensional measurement data as point cloud data, which enables the shape and distance of objects in a remote location to be measured with high precision.
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IOWN - APN
An all-photonics based network environment was set up between the Expo ’70 Commemorative Park in Suita and the Expo venue in Yumeshima. Massive amounts of data—including 3D point cloud data, images captured by four 4K stereo cameras, and the acceleration and positional information of the trio dancing—was transmitted as spatial data, taking advantage of the high capacity, low latency of IOWN-APN. Beyond the NTT Pavilion, IOWN-APN was also used in a variety of cases, such as events held on the Expo’s opening day.
*1 Target value of power efficiency for parts where photonics technology applies
*2 Target value of communication capacity per optical fiber
*3 Target value of end-to-end delay for video traffic within the same prefecture not requiring compression technology
Dynamic 3D space transmission recreation technology
Seven unique systems consisting of three LiDAR sensors and one optical camera were positioned at a special stage located at the Expo ’70 Commemorative Park. The movement of Perfume was measured as 3D point cloud data and sent to the Yumeshima venue in real-time. The Yumeshima side then rendered Perfume as three-dimensional video on a 3D LED screen, with viewpoints freely adjustable. This marked the world’s first attempt to express real-time dynamic 3D point cloud* data as 3D video.
Haptic-vibration-audio-field presentation technology
Perfume members wore acceleration sensors with a special system combining position tracking sensors. Data on the vibrations caused by the trio’s feet during the performance was also captured as positional information. On the Yumeshima side, 128 oscillators were embedded in the floor to recreate the remote performance by vibrating the entire floor, which made visitors really feel like they were there at the live performance.
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Opening Movie
The opening movie played before the performance featured various items and motifs connecting the Telecommunication Pavilion in 1970 with the NTT Pavilion in 2025.
The costumes worn by Perfume in the video were remakes based on those worn by staff at the Telecommunication Pavilion in 1970.
At the start of the video, the three members of Perfume are having a video call. This scene recreated the video call technology showcased at the Telecommunication Pavilion in 1970.
The “wireless telephone” introduced as “the phone of dreams” in 1970 made an appearance. The video also recreated the egg-shaped chair used at the exhibition in 1970.
It also showed the history of evolution in communication devices, from rotary dial telephones, public telephones, and shoulder phones, to a diverse range of Japanese flip-phones and smartphones.
Along with the history of communication and media technologies, the video showcased culture and fads representing the various periods from 1970 to the current day.
In the video for reliving the live performance, Perfume were featured together with emoji. Emoji were developed by NTT DOCOMO in 1999 and have since become a global phenomenon.
Zone 3
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Overview
In the IOWN era, even the idea of self is no longer bound to a single possibility.
In the digital world, we are freed from every constraint, able to encounter new versions of ourselves. Each of us meets a new “me,” and together we meet as new forms of “us.” Beyond that lies a world of possibilities yet unseen. Across differences of language and culture, these new “us” will resonate with one another and grow together. The experience you feel today is destined to become part of everyday life in the future society that IOWN envisions.
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Description of exhibit
After being captured in one of three scanning booths, each visitor appears on the huge LED screen at the front. In a video depicting the history of our life, the scanned visitors all dance and sing together. As this happens, their ages shift, and not only their appearance but also their singing voices transform. By coming face-to-face with another me, we gain the opportunity to think about a new self and the possibilities contained therein. Feelings that cannot be conveyed with words. Emotions that cannot be expressed with video. Moods, atmosphere, and subtleties of the human heart that can only be felt when people are together. A message asks the audience: “Have we connected in the truest sense of the word?”
Emotional architecture
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A collaborative Pavilion
The canopy that covered the entrance space of the Pavilion was produced by NTT Group employees at a collaborative workshop. They aimed for not only an experience, but something that would bring joy to visitors and give children memories to cherish. NTT aimed to create a memorable experience and building by creating the Pavilion together with many other people.
Emotional architecture
A green Pavilion
If technology can support the unlimited evolution of humanity, then we must protect the planet we live on. NTT planned an environmentally-friendly Pavilion as part of its efforts for achieving the NTT Green Vision Toward 2040. The Pavilion adopted a tent-like structure that pulled three theaters up with carbon wires. This reduced the steel needed for pillars and helped lower CO2 emissions. A Pavilion gentle both on people and the planet. Embodying a self-sustained ecosystem. That was the kind of Pavilion we aimed for.
Emotional architecture
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A living Pavilion
With the passing of time and the changing of the seasons, the Pavilion was covered in small clusters that responded to visitors’ movements and expressions, making the entire structure ripple like a new kind of living organism. Using IOWN optical computing, the expressions of those experiencing the NTT Pavilion were analyzed in real time. The more smiles there were, the more the fabric covering the Pavilion swayed, carrying the sense of excitement to people outside as well.
