Kaneka sponsors Yokohama's city pavilion with solar windows, solar cladding and biodegradable turf

• Yokohama City and Kaneka signed a sponsorship contract on 13 November 2026 for the advanced-technology exhibits in the city’s Tsunagu Yokohama Pavilion, and announced it the same day.
• Kaneka will lend exhibits on tandem perovskite solar cells and supply building-integrated solar cladding; supply artificial turf made of its biodegradable biopolymer Green Planet and lend related exhibits; and lend exhibits on genome-edited crops and on regenerative medicine such as iPS cell culture.
• According to Kaneka, part of the windows in the Lifestyle Zone will carry tandem perovskite cells and see-through solar panels, and part of the outer wall of the Future Zone will carry solid-type solar panels.
• The biodegradable turf will be laid around the water play spot in the pavilion grounds.
• Kaneka will run two hands-on events for limited periods during the Expo: an environmental class and craft workshop built around Green Planet, and a VR experience of circular organic dairy farming.
• Neither release gives dates, prices or how to sign up for the events.
• Note: Tsunagu Yokohama Pavilion and West GX Village are trip-jp’s renderings of the Japanese names.

Our take

Counting the city’s own press list, this is the 32nd sponsorship of the city pavilion since Tokyo Gas on 21 July. LIXIL Renewal on 30 October was the 29th, followed by NTT East and Sakata Seed Green Service on 2 November, and now Kaneka.

Most sponsors so far have lent exhibits. Kaneka also puts solar cells on the pavilion’s windows and wall and lays turf in the grounds, so visitors will see its materials from outside before they enter an exhibition room. It is the third company to generate power at the pavilion’s windows, after YKK AP in August (an inner window with built-in solar cells) and LIXIL Renewal in October (a power-generating screen pulled down inside the window). Glass, the room side of the window and the outer wall: each puts the cells in a different place, and the pavilion looks set to let visitors compare all three.

For families, the points to note are the water play spot and the two events. The turf goes around the water play area, so the ground under children’s feet is itself an exhibit. The class, workshop and VR are for limited periods, and their dates will affect which day to visit.

Tips for visitors

• The pavilion is in the West GX Village area of the venue, on a site of about 3,000 m². Its location and two zones are in our report on the 29 September announcements.
• Event dates will come from the city or from Kaneka. Until then, it is safer not to fix a visit date around this pavilion alone.
• The other two window-power exhibits are covered in our LIXIL Renewal report.