If you visited Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, some of what you find at GREEN×EXPO 2027 in Yokohama will look familiar: timber, buildings, even characters. What goes where has been announced separately by the companies involved, Kanagawa Prefecture and others. We have used only the announcements we could confirm, and where details remain unannounced as of September 2026, we say so.
Grand Ring timber at KAJIMA TREE, Kanagawa Hall’s flowerbed and the RING PASS
The Grand Ring was the symbol of Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai. Some of the places its timber went after the ring was dismantled have been announced.
According to the site of the GREEN×EXPO Association (formally the 2027 International Horticultural Expo Association, a public interest incorporated association), Kajima Corporation received Grand Ring timber. The site says Kajima will give it “new life through advanced technology” and display it in its Village pavilion “KAJIMA TREE.” The page does not say how the timber is processed or exactly how it is displayed.
Kanagawa Prefecture is building the pavilion “Vibrant INOCHI Forest Kanagawa Hall.” At its six-months-to-go event on 8 September 2026, the prefecture announced that Grand Ring timber will also be reused in the flowerbed at the centre of the pavilion’s garden. The bed is planned to bloom with rapeseed flowers at opening, then pansies, then sunflowers planted by children in July, mostly using flowers grown in the prefecture.
The City of Yokohama also received timber. On 15 September 2026 the GREEN×EXPO Association announced the RING PASS, a season pass made from part of the city’s timber, sold by lottery in a run of 2,027 at 50,000 yen, with entries from 18 to 30 September (our report on RING PASS).
The timber has gone to Kajima’s pavilion, a prefectural flowerbed and an admission ticket made from the city’s share. We think pieces of the Grand Ring will end up scattered around the Yokohama Expo grounds as a reminder of Osaka. How many other places received it has not been disclosed.
Reusing Panasonic’s Nomo no Kuni at Toho Leo’s “Yasashiku Naritai. STUDIO”
Reuse plans for the Panasonic Group pavilion “Nomo no Kuni” at Expo 2025, designed by architect Yuko Nagayama, have been announced in concrete terms. In date order:
- 29 July 2025: Toho Leo and Panasonic Holdings announced that Nomo no Kuni’s facade (roughly 736 steel-frame pieces), 40 lights, 12 speakers and mist equipment would be reused in Toho Leo’s exhibit area within “Urban GX Village.”
- 4 September 2025: Panasonic announced its Nomo no Kuni building achieved over 99% reuse and recycling by weight, with under 1% waste.
- 22 December 2025: Panasonic announced destinations for the exhibits, seen by more than 470,000 visitors, going to airports, local governments, schools and other facilities. The Yokohama Expo is not among them.
- 25 May 2026: Toho Leo, Japan GX Group and the Hosome Cross-University Laboratory announced a joint regional programme centred on Toho Leo’s exhibit, now named “Yasashiku Naritai. STUDIO.” What was called “STUDIO (tentative name)” in 2025 has since been finalised under this name.
The facade is the part everyone saw from outside, so we think anyone who saw the pavilion in Osaka will recognise it at a glance. The exhibits themselves are going elsewhere, though, so what carries over to Yokohama is mostly the exterior and equipment, not the interior experience.
Two Expo pavilions reused in the main gate and a restaurant (TSP Taiyo)
TSP Taiyo Co., Ltd. built the Ireland Pavilion and the ORA restaurant pavilion “UTAGE” at Expo 2025. On 8 June 2026, it announced that materials from both would be reused in GREEN×EXPO 2027’s main gate and a restaurant.
The main gate combines timber and steel over roughly 92 metres. Its cladding reuses about 1,000 pieces of Irish Douglas fir louvre timber from the Ireland Pavilion’s exterior, deliberately placed at varying lengths and angles. TSP Taiyo handled the basic and detailed design, with advice from Kengo Kuma, the Expo’s master architect.
The restaurant reuses Ireland Pavilion timber on part of its exterior wall, and the “TM truss” used in the ORA pavilion’s second-floor ceiling as its roof structure, aiming for a column-free, single-storey space. TSP Taiyo says it is involved in building several other GREEN×EXPO 2027 pavilions, is certified under the “GX House Supplier” reuse-construction scheme, and has developed a reusable timber module unit, “FLEXPANUS,” with nine units planned.
null²’s permanent theatre, null²ⁿ, and null⁴ at the venue
“null²” was a signature pavilion at Expo 2025, produced by media artist Yoichi Ochiai. According to the announcements, around 600,000 people visited it. Its experience and concept continue in two separate projects.
The first is “null²ⁿ (Null Null Nexus),” a permanent immersive theatre due to open on 14 October 2026. It is not at the Yokohama Expo venue but in Yokohama Landmark Tower and Landmark Plaza, in Minato Mirai. It has five rooms including two LED theatres, and general ticket sales began on 14 July 2026.
The second is “null⁴ (Tetra Null),” planned for the Expo venue itself, inside SATOYAMA Village, opening alongside the Expo on 19 March 2027. Four mirrored structures are described as rotating to reflect flowers, sky, wind and visitors’ shadows. Ochiai calls it not a relocation but a “reincarnation,” with the stated theme “what carries over is not form but karma.”
If you are hoping to walk into the original null² building from Osaka, it is not coming to Yokohama. The permanent theatre is a separate facility outside the venue, in Minato Mirai, and what you will find inside the Expo grounds is a new sculptural work set among nature.
The Italy Pavilion’s official contract and partial reuse of the 2025 design
The GREEN×EXPO Association announced on 13 July 2026 that Italy and GREEN×EXPO 2027 signed an official participation contract at the Italian Embassy in Tokyo on 9 July 2026. The signing was attended by Jun Niimi, Commissioner General of the 2027 International Horticultural Expo; Mario Andrea Vattani, Commissioner General of Section and Italy’s Ambassador to Japan; and Masato Kawamura, Secretary General of the GREEN×EXPO Association.
According to the announcement, Italy’s 2025 pavilion was a considerable success, and the GREEN×EXPO 2027 Italy Pavilion is planned to incorporate some of its architectural and exhibit elements. The exhibit theme is “Italy designing the harmony of nature, tradition and innovation,” and the announcement says the aim is to show Italy’s commitment to a circular economy and sustainability. Which elements will actually be reused had not been announced at the time of this release.
The Myaku-Myaku x Tunku Tunku collaboration
Goods pairing Expo 2025’s official character Myaku-Myaku with GREEN×EXPO 2027’s mascot Tunku Tunku first appeared in September 2025, and the Association says items sold out quickly at multiple shops.
On 18 March 2026, six new items, including a backpack and pouches, and four restocked items, including clear files, went on sale. On 22 August 2026, reservations opened for a “triple collaboration” adding Mizuno, covering five items including shoes (17,600 yen) and a T-shirt (6,490 yen). General sales are planned for around March 2027, close to opening. The Association calls this the “first” release of its kind, so more may follow.
LET’S EXPO’s Yokohama edition
LET’S EXPO is a universal-tourism project run by the Kansai Innovation Center (MUIC Kansai) and Tokyo Travel Partners. Since it launched in 2023, it has supported visits to Expo 2025 in two ways: “venue support,” such as help pushing wheelchairs, and “online tours” by livestream. Together, the two services are reported to have supported more than 150,000 people.
A satisfaction survey of 300 venue-support users, published on 13 November 2025, found 95.1% said they enjoyed their visit and 88.4% said the support was a reason they came. The announcement said trials toward implementing the service at the 2027 Expo would begin from January 2026.
On 28 July 2026, LET’S EXPO formally announced its sponsorship of GREEN×EXPO 2027. The same day, it opened recruitment for around 2,000 volunteers to help visitors get around the venue. Briefings and training are scheduled from August 2026 to February 2027, and the volunteer period is March to September 2027, the same months as the Expo.
For the full pavilion lineup, see our feature page Pavilions. For more on what carries over from Expo 2025, see From Expo 2025.