On October 14, 2023, prior to the full-scale demolition of the school building of the Nakade Branch of Hosomi Elementary School, Fukuchiyama City, Kyoto Prefecture—one of the closed school buildings to be utilized for the Signature Pavilion ”to exist” directed by Thematic Project Producer KAWASE Naomi—a closed school building departure ceremony hosted by Fukuchiyama City was held.
KAWASE Naomi, Thematic Project Producer, SUO Takashi, in charge of the design and architecture of “to exist”, ISHIGE Hiroyuki, Secretary General, Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition, graduates from the Nakade Branch of Hosomi Elementary School and former teachers, as well as children of the school area of the Nakade Branch school, participated in the ceremony and celebrated the departure of the closed school building going to the Expo site at Yumeshima, Osaka.
During the ceremony, local residents shared their memories of the Nakade Branch of Hosomi Elementary School, and the children who inherited their memories handed a graduation certificate to Producer KAWASE Naomi, expressing their gratitude and expectations for the former school.
The school building of the Nakade Branch of Hosomi Elementary School, filled with the many memories and sentiments of the local residents that have been passed down through the years, will be reconstructed at the Expo site Yumeshima as a “Dialogue Theater” where Expo visitors can connect and interact with people from around the world.
From around January 2024 onwards, construction at the Expo site, Yumeshima, is scheduled to begin.
(Reference) Text on the Graduation Certificate
Certificate of Graduation
To the Nakade Branch of Hosomi Elementary School
Thank you for watching over so many elementary school students over the years.
Be transformed into a pavilion for Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan and inspire people around the world.
Congratulations on your graduation.
October 14, Reiwa 5 (2023)
Fukuchiyama City: SAIMATSU, TANOTANI, NAKADE, together with all the local residents
This school building will serve as the main theater where the pavilion’s main content, “Dialogue Theater,” will be presented during the Expo. The dialogue will be conducted by people of different nationalities, races, and cultures who are completely unknown to each other, and it will be a place where “dialogue for the first time in human history is born every day”.
The two school buildings were beautiful architectural structures with a sense of nostalgia that had been shared by people over the ages since the early Showa period (1926~1945). Even though it was my first visit, I felt a sense of nostalgia, as if I had known this place for a long time. For the pavilion, former school buildings in Totsukawa Village, Yoshino-gun, Nara Prefecture will also be used, but instead of combining them with other school buildings, each will be modified to suit the purpose of the pavilion and be reborn as a building with new value. The ginkgo trees planted alongside the school building, which had grown together with the children who studied here, will be brought to the Expo site to sustain their lives.
The Kawase Pavilion will utilize two closed schools, the former Hosomi Elementary School in Fukuchiyama City and the former Oritachi Junior High School in Totsukawa Village in Nara Prefecture, which is a first for me personally, and I am excited to see how it will turn out.
Utilizing closed schools is an innovative idea and it is not only an epoch-making initiative in the long history of Expos, but also an excellent initiative in terms of sustainability. The concept of the pavilion is “A dialogue for the first time in human history is born every day.” Dialogue and mutual exchange are the main significances of hosting the Expo, and Producer KAWASE’s attempt is the very challenge of the Expo itself.
With this “Closed School Building Departure Ceremony” as a starting point, the Association will do its utmost to ensure that the two closed schools are reborn in a new form and are firmly connected to the future.
Public Relations Department, Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition
E-mail: media@expo2025.or.jp