Kundo Koyama Produces His Imaginary Market, “EARTH MART”

A judging panel for “Future sweets & snacks that make everyone on the Earth happy” was held in May by “EARTH MART,” produced by broadcast writer, scriptwriter, and Kyoto University of the Arts’ vice president: Kundo Koyama.

The concept behind EARTH MART is an imaginary market where you can experience the cycle of food and life and encounter hints for the future, and is set to be showcased at the Signature Pavilion during EXPO 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan. From January 31 to May 20 this year, a website was specially created to gather sketches of ideas from fourth to sixth graders on the theme of ” Future sweets & snacks that make everyone on Earth happy.” This was co-sponsored by the Peace Communication Foundation, which organizes The Children’s Conference of the Future in Support of the United Nations.

The judges were given the submitted ideas in advance. Each were to select 30 ideas out of the many, resulting in very lively discussions during the judging.

During the beginning of the panel, Producer Koyama explained the pavilion and the purpose of the contest: “I’ll be in charge of one of the pavilions at EXPO 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan where the overall theme will be ‘Designing Future Society for Our Lives.’ Eight producers are thinking intently about the word ‘Lives’ from different perspectives, so much that they are now fixated on the subject. I’m planning on organizing the pavilion based on the motif of an imaginary market that we’ve called EARTH MART, where I aim to convey to visitors ‘what life is’ and ‘what it means to spin the thread of life’ through food. The first part of the exhibit is the ‘Department of Life.’ It explores how much life we as humans have taken in the past 80 years in order to sustain our own. By understanding the fact, we can learn to further appreciate food and better understand the earth’s cycle.

In the second half, we explore the ‘Department of Future.’ There we spread hints we wish to leave for the future on the ‘Ways of eating’: ways that Japan has cultivated through years of tradition, culture, technology, and other various perspectives. One of the themes here is sweets. Although sweets are not essential for survival, they symbolize human happiness and dreams.

Viewing things through a child’s viewpoint helps you realize all the small happy moments you may have overlooked or forgotten and begin to wonder ‘Why it’s necessary to put this perspective into consideration for the future’ and to understand ‘Why other countries have already taken this approach,’ instead of focusing solely on practical product development ideas; perspectives in which I hope will ultimately lead to filling one’s heart.

I hope that each judge will refer to these ideas from their own perspectives and present some of the illustrations that are displayed here today as if it were your own product. Rather than from a practicability standpoint, I hope we can endorse the state of sweets from a societal standpoint.”

Hattori shared that his perspective from a creator’s point of view made an impact on his selections: “As someone who has experience in making sweets, I am aware that even altering a single gram of an ingredient can greatly impact the flavor. If you were to ask me about how much of that the children are aware of, I don’t think that they understand any of it.　I believe it’s important for us to search for and create the areas they don’t fully comprehend while also taking into consideration their feelings. They might tell you ‘This isn’t the product we came up with’ when you look at it from their point of view, but we’ve always looked at our products with the intention of cooperating with them in some way, shape, or form.”

Yoroizuka expressed the difficulty of the selection process due to the various expressions and ideas: “There were many unique concepts, like something you’d see out of Doraemon. I also believe there were many submissions from China as well. Some were really thought out and addressed societal problems, while others were as simple as ‘I want big candy!’ It was very difficult to choose among the many ideas.”

【Sasaki comments about her point of view as a mother of two. (Photographer: Yu Tsutano) 〈Hair and Make-up: Ai Inuki (agee) Wardrobe: iNtimité (Jacket: Fringe Sleeveless Jacket / Pants：Fringe Pants) 〉】

Sasaki expressed her feelings from a mother’s point of view: “As a mother of two, I often bake together with my eldest son on my days off whenever he says, ‘Mom, let’s make sweets.’ As we’re baking, I always think how for children sweets are important and it makes their hearts overflow with emotions. After looking at all the ideas gathered here today, I felt they were filled with creativity that you just can’t come up with as an adult. On top of that, I was really moved about the ideas regarding the environment and uplifting those around you; something you don’t usually see elementary students talk about. I believe that if adults can bring these ideas to life, this has the potential to become truly fascinating.

Morimoto conveyed how much she was moved by all the children’s ideas: “I enjoyed all the submissions. I have a child, and despite being a mother myself, I find that sweets make me feel like I’ll forever be a child again (laughs).

There’s no logic to it, my heart just flutters, and that’s why I truly believe that Koyama’s idea of ‘filling one’s heart’ is beautiful. Although sweets are not directly necessary for survival, I feel they represent our hopes. Rather than looking at it realistically, I want to support all the free-spirited dreams that utilize this chance to announce to the world.”

Hirano added from the perspective of a confectionery company: “We received many submissions from not only within Japan, but overseas as well, and I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing all of them with excitement. Reviewing the children’s ideas reminded me of the mysterious ability that sweets have to bring joy and happiness to those you share it with, making for a more fun and delicious experience while creating bonds. I would like to take such thoughts into consideration when judging.”

A total of 199 submissions were received from Japan and 193 from overseas.

During the judging, comments such as, “This has potential to become a future product,” “Hard to implement, but very innovative,” “Not edible but interesting when put up for display,” “Cute and childlike,” “Plainly mysterious,” and “Ideas that adults won’t ever come up with” were exchanged regarding the submissions.

Lastly, Koyama commented, “Just looking at these ideas made us feel happy. It was a great opportunity to think about happiness through sweets, and I wish to convey the feelings I felt today at this panel to the visitors.”