More than 100,000 visitors have already come through the doors of the NTT Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, since the event opened in April. That's a lot of smiling faces.

There's much to see in and around the three parts of the Pavilion. Zone 1 features an emotional, room-sized video, titled "The Evolution of Communication and the Gap Yet to Be Bridged." Zone 2, with special guest stars Perfume, is all about "The Rhythm of Connection Beyond Distance." Zone 3 explores "The Possibility of a New We." You'd be happy to wait in line to see any of those attractions, if you were at an amusement park

There's also fun to be had outside the Pavilion, with two attractions: "'Denwa' for listening to the universe" and "Fure-au Denwa."

For the former, dialing three-digit numbers on the classic phones on display allows you to listen in on a range of pre-recorded conversations, from "Spring" to "Fate."

For the latter, you can share tactile sensations by touching tables located in front of the monitors at the Pavilion, exchanging high-fives with users at a separate location, taking turns hitting drum beats with them, and putting a stethoscope to your chest so that your counterparts can hear your heartbeat.

What the majority of visitors probably don't know is that NTT has smuggled a huge amount of future technology into its Expo presentation. Let's examine just three of those examples of the tech we'll all be using in the very near future.

Spatial Data Transmission and Reproduction Technology powered by IOWN

Set slightly apart from the NTT Pavilion and designed as a prototype, NTT has been exploring a way to capture people and objects in real time using a mix of cameras and LiDAR sensors, then reconstructing them as lifelike 3D scenes in a different location. The observation screen, not open to the general public, is in Yumeshima, and shows live scenes from the Expo'70 Commemorative Park in Suita.

Imagine standing in front of a screen and seeing a 3D version of someone walking through a park 25 kilometers away, live. You're in control: as you move your head and adjust the viewing angle, the scene adjusts. More than just video, it's spatial data, transmitted so quickly that movement and perspective shift as you move your head. You can look around corners, tilt your view, and feel like you're right there.

It's made possible by the All-Photonics Network (APN), part of NTT's IOWN initiative. Unlike conventional fiber that converts signals between optical and electrical forms, APN keeps data entirely in the optical domain, reducing latency to around 133 microseconds over 25 kilometers, as previously measured on another APN, or around 1/200th the delay of standard networks. It also supports guaranteed data throughput of up to 800 gigabits per second, more than enough for high-volume, multi-channel 3D spatial content. The same technology was used for the remote performance at a studio in the Commemorative Park by Japanese pop group Perfume, streamed live in high resolution into the NTT Pavilion in Yumeshima.

Right now, it's a fun and cool thing to see on a screen. In the near future, though, it's easy to imagine the same technology being used for emergency response coordination with spatial views of disaster zones, telepresence for remote business meetings, live 3D classroom sessions for remote education, and virtual attendance at sports matches or concerts.

Data-Centric Infrastructure (DCI) for IOWN Photonic Disaggregated Computing

DCI is the backbone that keeps the Pavilion's real-time features running smoothly and efficiently.

Inside the Pavilion, cameras track visitors' expressions, and the system picks up whether people look surprised, focused, or amused. That information gets sent to DCI, where it's processed and translated into physical feedback. Parts of the Pavilion's outside floating wall move to reflect the mood and emotions of visitors.

One of the reasons the tech stands out is the way the system processes a huge amount of data without guzzling power. It uses photonic devices and smart controller software to cut electricity use to one-eighth of what was needed just a few years ago. NTT plans to slash energy consumption even further in the near future, down to one-hundredth of previous needs, with the ultimate goal being the creation of a computing system built around light instead of electricity.

And it's already happening. NTT has laid out a roadmap toward photonic-electronic convergence, beginning with photonic boards, moving to chip-to-chip optical connections, and ultimately aiming for complete optical integration at the chip level using silicon photonics and membrane-based indium phosphide layers. Early testing of the platform's performance has already shown less than 1% latency when running distributed GPU clusters across APN, a near match to traditional co-located setups.

Thinking about possible applications of the technology leads you first to energy-efficient AI data centers with photonic computing. But don't stop there. How about emotion-responsive architecture in public spaces? Ultra-low latency remote robotics for surgery or industry? Live sentiment tracking in entertainment venues or exhibitions? DCI can make them all possible.

Cross-Lingual Synthetic Speech Technology, Connecting the World, Beyond Language

Visitors to the Expo may have seen a new kind of technology in action outside the NTT Pavilion, without realizing just what they were witnessing.

Cross-Lingual Synthetic Speech technology has been set up to allow Japanese athletes to deliver welcome messages to visitors, in multiple languages on video screens. When you look at the screens, watch the athletes and listen to the messages, it's them. There's no over-dubbing and the voices you hear are not electronic computer voices; it's clearly the athletes speaking, with their own voices.

When did they learn so many languages and how come they're so good?!

Here's where it gets interesting. They didn't learn other languages. All they did was read out the Japanese-language version of the message. From that tiny snippet of data, the system then built a voice profile, working out their voices' unique characteristics, and had them speak the same message in a variety of other languages: Chinese, French, Spanish, Korean, and English.

It's uncanny and also a sign of things to come. In the future, communication won't be limited by the language you speak. Cross-Lingual will genuinely sound like you, but speaking languages you've never studied before. Even as it changes the words, the system will keep your tone, rhythm, and personality as it translates across cultures.

Look forward to meetings with colleagues or clients from all around the world, in your own language, without any need for translation. Global video content localized without dubbing. Multilingual customer service with real staff voices.

Your voice will travel everywhere, not just through subtitles or interpreters, but by speaking directly.

Daniel O'Connor

Daniel O'Connor joined the NTT Group in 1999 when he began work as the Public Relations Manager of NTT Europe. While in London, he liaised with the local press, created the company's intranet site, wrote technical copy for industry magazines and managed exhibition stands from initial design to finished displays.

Later seconded to the headquarters of NTT Communications in Tokyo, he contributed to the company's first-ever winning of global telecoms awards and the digitalisation of internal company information exchange.

Since 2015 Daniel has created content for the Group's Global Leadership Institute, the One NTT Network and is currently working with NTT R&D teams to grow public understanding of the cutting-edge research undertaken by the NTT Group.