Power player

The 1970 Osaka Expo was a technology showcase which exhibited Japan’s cutting-edge products and solutions to the world. It was held in the midst of a period of rapid economic growth in the country and attracted more than 64 million visitors—a record number for attendance at an Expo at the time. Fifty-five years later, a very different Japan—with an economy that has transitioned from growth to maturity—is set to again host the Expo. Sachiko Nakajima is one of the producers of the event and she believes Japan is ready to show another side of itself to the world.

“Everyone from small children to the elderly can be creative. Life flourishes within each and every one of us”

“Everyone from small children to the elderly can be creative. Life flourishes within each and every one of us”

“If [Expo ’70] presented the future of Japan through various technologies, I think the message this time should be to showcase the explosion of creativity that technology can bring out,” she says. An expert in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics) education, Nakajima has long been calling for the democratization of creativity, highlighting how the trait is something we all have potential for, rather than being the exclusive domain of artists. “Everyone from small children to the elderly can be creative,” she says. “Life flourishes within each and every one of us, and we have the urge to express and communicate that in various ways. I think the key to success for the Expo is to draw out and realize the creativity of each individual.”

Sachiko Nakajima

“Purpose is considered an important part of learning, but there’s surprisingly little attention given to play”

Nakajima, a successful jazz musician and the first Japanese woman to win a gold medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad, is one of eight Thematic Project Producers charged with creating a domain at Expo 2025. Her theme is “Invigorating Lives,” or, as she puts it, “creating a collaborative space through play, learning, sports, and the arts, where people can feel the joy and fun of being alive and ‘invigorate’ their life together.” After repeated discussions with architects and fellow mathematicians, she has decided to focus on “flowing play”, the concept that constructive fun can lead to change. “Creativity isn’t born without ‘flowing play’,” she says. “Purpose is considered an important part of learning, but there’s surprisingly little [attention given] to play. As you play, you create your own purpose. As kids get muddy in the sandbox, they may start thinking about building a castle, or digging a moat for water to flow through. I think the importance of such flowing play really needs to be emphasized now.”

This idea is at the center of Nakajima’s Expo attraction, “Jellyfish Pavilion: Playground of Life,” which combines her expertise in music and mathematics with technology and play into a space that nurtures creativity.

Sachiko Nakajima

“I hope visitors to the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan will come away with the feeling that anyone can create a piece of the future”

“I hope visitors to the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan will come away with the feeling that anyone can create a piece of the future”

Full STEAM ahead

In the course of her work as an educator, Nakajima has come to feel that creativity can offer a relief from the pressures of modern life and she dreams of creating a “children’s museum for ages 0 to 120” after the Expo. “I hope we can all work together to bring about a revolution in the way we live,” she says.

Nakajima, who founded steAm Inc., a company dedicated to promoting STEAM education in 2017 and has been a STEM Girls Ambassador for the Cabinet Office since 2018, is clearly sincere in her belief that the Expo can change the world. “One of the characteristics of the Expo is that it’s a festival of the people,” she says. “I want people to know that they can change the world by being involved. I hope visitors [to the Expo] will come away with the feeling that anyone can create a piece of the future.”