GREEN×EXPO 2027 has one theme, “Scenery of the Future for Happiness,” and four subthemes that all begin with the same two letters: Co-adaptation, Co-existence, Co-creation and Co-operation. The 1990 flower expo in Osaka fitted its whole theme into a single phrase. What the Association says the 2027 theme means, and where it parts from 1990, is below.
The theme “Scenery of the Future for Happiness”
The Japanese theme is Shiawase o tsukuru asu no fukei, and the official English is “Scenery of the Future for Happiness.” According to the official site of the GREEN×EXPO Association (formally the 2027 International Horticultural Expo Association, a public interest incorporated association), flowers, greenery, farming and food sustain life and daily living, and have brought people joy and smiles across generations and ethnic groups. Building on that, the Association says it aims to make coexistence with nature and a sense of happiness visible as a “new scenery of tomorrow.”
The formal name is International Horticultural Expo 2027, Yokohama, Japan. The official short name is GREEN×EXPO 2027, and in Japanese it is commonly called Yokohama Green Expo. The venue is the former Kamiseya Communication Facility in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, and the expo runs from 19 March to 26 September 2027. As its attendance figure, the official site gives more than 10 million paying visitors.
Under the heading “Significance,” the site says the Association proposes creating a sustainable society that lives in harmony with nature and in which a sense of happiness deepens, through people’s engagement with flowers and greenery, and that it will send a message of friendship and peace from Yokohama toward tomorrow. It also lists promoting horticulture and landscaping internationally, lives filled with flowers and greenery, building regions and economies, and contributing to solving social issues as part of the purpose of an international horticultural expo.
The four subthemes
The official site presents four subthemes as the angles that develop the theme and give it concrete shape.
| Subtheme | What it proposes |
|---|---|
| Co-adaptation (harmony with nature) | Bringing in green infrastructure to lay the foundation of sustainable, safe cities |
| Co-existence (coexistence through greenery and farming) | Building a “green community” in which people support one another through greenery and farming |
| Co-creation (creating new industries) | Raising the value of floriculture and farming, and growing industries through new technologies and varieties |
| Co-operation (solutions through partnership) | Contributing to multicultural coexistence, friendship and peace through exchange among companies, research institutions and citizens in Japan and abroad |
A note on the official site defines “green community” as a body of mutual help that forms when people take an active part in building and maintaining green infrastructure.
Which subtheme each exhibitor sits closest to has not been stated officially.
How it differs from the 1990 flower expo
According to the official site of the foundation that commemorates the 1990 expo, the International Garden and Greenery Exposition (EXPO’90, known in Japan as the Hana no Banpaku, or flower expo), held at Tsurumi Ryokuchi in Osaka in 1990, had the theme Shizen to ningen to no kyosei, which translates as coexistence, or living together, between nature and people. It ran for 183 days, from 1 April to 30 September 1990, and its total attendance was 23,126,934. On the basic philosophy of the time, the foundation’s site says the expo was also meant to be a place to confirm that industry and life, and civilisation and nature, are not adversaries but in essence exist in harmony.
In 1990 the theme rested on one word, kyosei. The 2027 Yokohama expo takes that word and splits it into four Co- words: harmony with nature, coexistence through greenery and farming, the creation of new industries, and solutions through partnership.
The “People, Nature, Life” symposium
Working with the foundation that commemorates the 1990 expo, the GREEN×EXPO Association has been holding a “People, Nature, Life” symposium since fiscal 2024, and the series continues. The official site explains that it is held to carry forward the basic philosophy of the 1990 exposition.
The second symposium took place on 28 November 2025 at Iino Hall in Tokyo, under a title that translates roughly as “What the Japanese Have Forgotten, the Japanese View of Nature.” The organiser was the symposium’s executive committee, made up of the GREEN×EXPO Association and the 1990 foundation. Anne McDonald, a professor at Sophia University, and media artist Yoichi Ochiai gave the keynote lectures. The panel discussion added Akemi Nishimura, who runs a ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn) as its proprietor, and Hiroshi Yuasa, chairman and director of the Research Institute of Evolutionary Biology. Shiro Wakui, chairperson of GREEN×EXPO Lab, coordinated. Admission was free with advance registration, and capacity was 400.
Our take
In 1990 the whole theme fitted into one phrase, coexistence between nature and people. Why did that one word turn, by 2027, into four: harmony, coexistence, creation and partnership? Watching the “People, Nature, Life” symposium take the view of nature itself as its subject, we think the work behind the 2027 theme was one of restating kyosei in today’s language.