- Six months before opening, on 15 September 2026, Sumitomo Forestry revealed for the first time the visitor route and the latest renderings of its pavilion at GREEN×EXPO 2027, the Sumitomo Forestry pavilion Hyaku no Mori (“a hundred forests”).
- Concept: “100EYES, 100FORESTS.”, meaning that a forest looks different to every person who sees it. The pavilion offers many ways of looking at forests and trees.
- Route: a tunnel, a theatre, a museum, then a deck on the upper floor.
- Tunnel: just inside the entrance, visitors set off carrying a question that seems to contradict itself: protecting forests and felling trees.
- Theatre and museum: the forest as a home for countless living things, and the path of timber from planting and tending to the homes people live in. Beyond that, the future potential of wood in energy and biotechnology.
- Upper deck: trees usually seen from below are seen from above, as a bird would see them.
- What it means to the company: founded in 1691 and built on forests and timber for more than 330 years, Sumitomo Forestry is exhibiting on its own at a world exposition for the first time. The pavilion presents its “wood cycle” of growing forests, using timber, building and replanting, and its long-term goals to 2030.
- Next: the pavilion’s website carries the renderings and logo and will add exhibit details and events before opening.
- Not stated: time needed, whether entry needs a reservation, where the pavilion stands in the venue, its size, and where its timber comes from.
Our take
The question at the entrance sets the character of the pavilion. Protect forests, or fell trees. For a forestry company both are its job, and the answer it gives in the theatre and museum is that felling, using and replanting is how forests are protected. Because the question comes first and the answer follows inside, we think this is a pavilion that makes little sense if you join halfway. Allow time to walk it from the tunnel.
In our guide to all the pavilions the Sumitomo Forestry pavilion had only a concept and a link. Now the route is visible, in four parts: tunnel, theatre, museum and deck. Among pavilions built around wood it sits next to KAJIMA TREE, which uses Grand Ring timber from Expo 2025. Kajima’s pavilion carries on the Expo’s wood; Sumitomo Forestry’s tells the story of its own forests. Same material, different angle.
The upper deck at the end will be a place to see the venue’s greenery from a little height. Together with the TAISEI GREEN TERRACE announced the same day, with its viewing height of about 4.5 metres, that makes two places to look down on the site.
Tips for visitors
- The pavilion has a fixed route, so allow time to go from the tunnel to the upper deck in one pass. Time needed has not been published.
- Whether entry needs a reservation is not yet known. How exhibit reservations work is explained in our report on timed entry.
- Its location and the other eleven corporate pavilions are in our pavilion guide.
- Exhibit details will be added to the pavilion’s website (Japanese) before opening.
Our take
A forestry company opening its pavilion with the apparent contradiction of protecting forests and felling trees is putting its own business on display. The answer is given inside, so this is a pavilion to walk in order. Time needed, reservations and the location in the venue are not stated.