Vibrant INOCHI Forest Kanagawa Pavilion

Vibrant INOCHI Forest Kanagawa Pavilion (Vibrant INOCHI Forest Kanagawa-kan) is the exhibit of Kanagawa Prefecture, a host prefecture of GREEN×EXPO 2027. Its main theme is “Vibrant INOCHI,” the idea that every person’s life should shine, with three sub-themes: an inclusive society, a sustainable society and improving ME-BYO (the state between health and illness). The pavilion and its outdoor garden are treated as one “forest,” a name announced by Governor Kuroiwa at the groundbreaking on April 15, 2026. Key features were unveiled at the prefecture’s half-year-to-go briefing on September 8, 2026.

Exhibits

Theater. The indoor pavilion centers on a theater showing a completely original film, “Vibrant INOCHI Forest: You, Life and the Future.” A young Japanese flying squirrel, Momoon, sets off on an adventure through time with the leaf characters VIBRANTs after a change in their forest. Both characters also serve as the pavilion’s mascots.

Permanent indoor exhibits announced so far include:

• the skull of a baby blue whale that washed ashore at Yuigahama, Kamakura, in summer 2018 with plastic waste in its stomach, which prompted the prefecture’s “zero plastic waste” declaration;
• a touchable digital globe developed by Professor Shinichi Takemura, showing real-time views of Earth and content on decarbonization;
• a hands-on corner on ME-BYO indicators and certified devices;
• rotating works from the prefecture’s “Tomoiki” inclusive art program.

Outdoor garden. Modeled on Kanagawa’s landscape, the garden will be replanted through the seasons. The central “Kanagawa flower bed” will feature rapeseed blossoms at opening, then pansies (a major Kanagawa crop) and, in July, sunflowers planted by children; the beds reuse wood from the Osaka-Kansai Expo’s Grand Ring. The garden will also include aquaponics using seedlings raised by people with disabilities, raised beds that wheelchair users can work at, a smart-farming display of the prefecture’s “joint training” fruit-tree method with robots, and a garden by five agricultural high schools (GREEN LEADERSHIP CLUB).

Participation. Schools across the prefecture are growing pansies, violas and tulips for the “Kanagawa Hanasaka School Project,” with photos to be shown as mosaic art inside the pavilion. Origami Tunku Tunku figures carrying visitors’ wishes, collected from the September 23 event onward, will be displayed during the Expo.

Events and musical. Indoor and outdoor event spaces will host prefectural and public events every day. The adjacent Main Hall (provisional name, about 500 seats) will stage the prefecture’s original musical “Vibrant INOCHI,” a hopeful, humorous story about environmental issues, produced in film and stage versions of about 45 minutes each; performance dates are still being arranged. Yoda Yuki plays the heroine Gyalvi (a girl from Yokohama) in the film version; the stage-version Gyalvi is double-cast with Amato Ai and Akino Yuka. The theme song “Hoshi no Ko” was written by GRe4N BOYZ. The prefecture also plans a national high school “Hanaike Battle” ikebana contest at the venue on April 30, 2027.

Architecture and design

The pavilion uses Kanagawa timber in a lattice that evokes the gentle curves of the sea, with mirrored panels at the base so the garden’s greenery blends into the facade. Grand Ring wood from the Osaka Expo will be reused for flower beds and decks. Nikkei reported an area of about 5,000 m² with a building of about 700 m². Staff uniforms use plant-based polylactic fiber and will be composted after the Expo.

Timeline

• January 28, 2026: Image rendering released; plan to reuse Grand Ring wood announced
• April 15, 2026: Groundbreaking and naming
• July 14, 2026: Musical theme song released; calls for dance videos, auditions and extras
• August 17, 2026: Official X and Instagram accounts opened; sponsorship call begins
• September 3, 2026: Musical cast announced (Yoda Yuki as the film-version heroine Gyalvi)
• September 8, 2026: Logo, mascots, theater film, permanent exhibits and uniforms unveiled
• September 17, 2026: High school ikebana contest at the venue announced
• September 23, 2026: Half-year-to-go event held in Odawara

Before you go

The pavilion is in the northern part of the venue, next to the Main Hall (provisional name) on the venue map. Whether it will require same-day viewing reservations had not been announced as of October 2026, and musical dates are still being arranged. Accessibility details for the pavilion have not been announced, though the garden will have raised beds suitable for wheelchair users.

Sources: Kanagawa Prefecture GREEN×EXPO 2027 site (checked 2026-10-04) / Half-year briefing, Sep 8, 2026 (checked 2026-10-04) / Briefing details (PDF) (checked 2026-10-04) / Groundbreaking release, Apr 15, 2026 (checked 2026-10-04) / Image rendering release, Jan 28, 2026 (checked 2026-10-04) / Musical “Vibrant INOCHI” official site (checked 2026-10-04) / Ikebana contest release, Sep 17, 2026 (checked 2026-10-04) / GREEN×EXPO 2027: host city and prefecture (checked 2026-10-04) / GREEN×EXPO 2027 event venues (checked 2026-10-04) / Nikkei, Apr 15, 2026 (checked 2026-10-04)

Note: exhibits and highlights will be updated as official announcements are made.