JVCKENWOOD joins Yokohama City's pavilion with a vibration-powered generator built with Kyoto University

• On 25 September 2026 JVCKENWOOD Corporation (headquartered in Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama) and its group company JVCKENWOOD Public & Industrial Systems signed a sponsorship contract with Yokohama City. It covers the advanced-technology exhibit in the city’s pavilion, the “communication hub using a building space”, in the Urban GX Village at the venue.
• The exhibit is a joint one with Kyoto University, under the theme “city vibrations light the future” (our translation).
• On show is an energy harvester, still under development, that turns vibration into electricity. A loudspeaker turns electricity into vibration to make sound; the device runs that principle in reverse.
• The visitor experience: press a switch, the rig produces a simulated vibration, the demo unit generates electricity, and LEDs in a diorama of the Yokohama skyline light up.
• The device is being developed with a research group at Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Engineering and with CTI Engineering. In February 2025 it generated power from the vibration of cars crossing a bridge in Kyoto Prefecture, and in June 2026 the company stored that power in a test facility.
• The intended use is powering sensors that monitor ageing roads, bridges and water pipes without wiring or battery changes.
• JVCKENWOOD says it joined because it agrees with the city’s stated aim of presenting “a circular city and way of life for the future” (our translation).
• The exhibit’s location within the pavilion, its opening date and whether reservations are needed are not stated.

Our take

Yokohama City’s pavilion is filling up with local companies. As we wrote in all pavilions at a glance, it is the city’s own building in the Urban GX Village, with exhibits running from prologue through behaviour change, advanced technology and exchange to epilogue. August brought a sponsorship from the contractor Nara Kensetsu and uniforms from Ryohin Keikaku, September the Sotetsu Group’s exhibit and six startups, and now JVCKENWOOD adds one more to the advanced-technology section. The company’s head office is in Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, so for a city pavilion the line-up makes sense.

The content has little to do with horticulture. Cars crossing a bridge make it shake, the shaking makes electricity, and the electricity runs sensors that watch for ageing infrastructure. What it does have is a simple experience: press a switch, feel the rig vibrate, watch the city model light up. A child gets the idea in one move. The six startups are also building their exhibits as games, so this pavilion is shaping up as the place for hands-on indoor exhibits.

Tips for visitors

• The city’s pavilion is inside the Urban GX Village. Its position and the full list of exhibitors are in all pavilions at a glance.
• In the same pavilion, six startups turn rocket launches and quantum computing into games. If you want a technology-heavy day, build it around this building.
• Opening date and reservation rules are not announced. Check the pavilion’s own information nearer the time.