Whatever it may be, when you get involved, you naturally develop an attachment, don’t you? From that attachment, curiosity and fondness are born, and eventually, it leads to taking on new challenges. That’s why I started “Nomonoco”—hoping that by getting involved in “The land of NOMO,” children would find a trigger to take their first steps forward. I thought it would be great if there were touchpoints where children could participate not only in the experiences within “The land of NOMO” at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, but also in the process of creating “The land of NOMO” itself. I also hope that these formative experiences will help unlock something within the children themselves.

Right now, we’re running a workshop called “The Laboratory of Imagination” for elementary school students across the country. Just as Konosuke Matsushita once imagined the heavy labor of housewives and created home appliances, we’re encouraging children to use materials and scraps to develop new characters that can be helpful to someone.

First of all, there’s a limit to what a single company can do. People in different positions have their own roles and strengths, and I believe that new value is created when those strengths are combined. For example, in Dragon Quest, you need companions with various roles to save the world: a hero who gives orders, a warrior who protects allies and serves as the main attacker, a magician who attacks all enemies with spells, and a priest who supports allies from the rear. It’s because there are companions with various roles that you can save the world. That’s why I thought that if we work together with people who have strengths we don’t possess, maybe they’ll cast a little magic for us.

The reason we are exhibiting at the pavilion is because we wanted to provide an opportunity for many people to realize their own potential and take a step forward through our participation. If this could only be experienced by visiting the pavilion, it would become an experience limited to only a few people. Therefore, even before the opening, we have been working to expand places where people can have the Unlock experience outside the pavilion, hoping this will become a legacy after the Expo. We have been promoting this initiative by co-creating with various people and venues.

Also, the reason we joined forces with everyone from demo!expo was because, seeing them work on various projects not only at the Osaka-Kansai Expo venue but also throughout the city, treating every place as an expo site, I genuinely thought, “These are adults who truly enjoy everything!” (laughs). It’s like they’re grown-up children… After all, I think if we don’t enjoy ourselves first, children won’t have fun either!

Nothing but fun!

I was impressed by the Netherland Pavilion train car. There were so many flowers, it was beautiful, and there was a quiz where guests could learn about Netherland while having fun. It really felt like they were promoting it well.

At the Expo, I want to visit the American, Chinese, and Netherland pavilions.

You did it at least ten times, right?

I put on three stickers: “I forget things a lot,” “I eat a lot,” and “I’m not a morning person.”

For us—it was “I eat a lot,” “I like taking detours,” and “I have a loud voice”…

I made 10 friends.

I’m totally losing here (laughs).

I want to do the “Candy Party” again.

There were so many sweets, and there were apples inside something like a treasure chest.

Oh, so that’s what it was! (laughs) The thing I enjoyed the most was probably “Yayakoshi-so.” There were these weird residents, and you had to deliver packages to them, but a lot of them couldn’t understand just words, so we all discussed how to communicate with them.

That might be true. Normally, it’s hard to make friends quickly, but because there are these activities, it’s easy to make friends here.

Yeah, at first I was super shy around people.

Yeah, once I tried it, it was surprisingly fun.

It’s the adults who get nervous, right?

(laughs)

I’m curious about how much progress they’ve made on building the Expo pavilions. There was this vibe before, like, “Are they even going to finish construction?” But lately, I haven’t seen anything about it in the news.

When I told my teacher, “I’m planning to go,” quite a few classmates were like, “Me too!”

Yeah, we’re going!

It feels like we’re one step ahead.

We do, actually. Like during community activities or open house days. But “Nomonoco” is a bit different. What’s nice is that everyone can think about anything together. If it’s something we need to do for what we want to achieve, we’ll do whatever it takes—let’s figure it out!

Maybe adults should rethink the rules a bit?

But if you did that, society would collapse. If everyone was totally free! (laughs)

When I first met Yuuki, my impression was completely different. At first, he seemed a bit shy about speaking in front of everyone, but with each event, he became more confident, and now he’s like the leader of “Nomonoco.” I rely on him a lot. Futaba is almost like a staff member now. She can get along with anyone, regardless of age, and has truly amazing communication skills. I want to learn from her. Also, she remembered, “I participated in this and that!” which made me very happy. Mio seemed to be having a great time today and became best friends with Futaba. It’s wonderful to have activities where you can make close friends outside of school. I hope in the future they’ll say, “We were together in Nomonoco.”

For example, at the “Sweets Party,” there were moments when the children became aware of slightly negative aspects of themselves, but many were able to accept that and turn it into something positive, which I thought showed great flexibility. In workshops like “Yayakoshi-so,” which involve teamwork, roles naturally emerged, with kids taking the initiative in things they were good at, delegating to those who excelled, and some even stepping up as leaders. Even though adults didn’t assign roles, the children naturally organized themselves, making me think that maybe kids are even more amazing than adults. I’m always impressed.

Through every project, I sometimes wondered, “Are children communication wizards?” But perhaps it’s just that, as adults, we lose touch with how to communicate, which made me reflect.

Adults who experienced the 1970 Expo often talk about how valuable that experience was. At Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, we want to offer experiences that allow people to dream about the future and that will be talked about for generations.