Osaka-Kansai Expo Technical Article: The Path to a "Once-in-a-Lifetime Project" and "Pride in Being Part of Murata" (Part 1).

Note: Hayashida, Kanagawa, and Muraoka from the Expo Promotion Office were also present at this interview.

1. A project that sparked pride in being part of Murata

More than 200 employees were involved in this project, and the echorb Wonder Stones drew extensive media coverage for its uniqueness. During the Expo, large numbers of visitors and business partners also came to the pavilion.
The Osaka-Kansai Expo delivered major results and impact across a wide range of touchpoints, both inside and outside the company.
Ando emphasizes that, above all, "what it brought to employees is immeasurable."

Ando: "One of the project's major goals was to create opportunities for our employees to connect with visitors, in other words, end users. That's because most of the products we work so hard to make aren't visible to customers and can't be touched. We almost never get to see the smiles or looks of surprise from the people who use what we make. That's exactly why I wanted our employees to see customers holding what they created, feeling joy, and being genuinely moved."

As one employee who visited the pavilion put it: "Seeing visitors touch echorb and react in surprise gave me the confidence that what we believed in and created was right all along." This reflects how many employees were inspired by visitors' reactions.

Ando: "I received so many emails from project members, including ones saying, 'I'm proud to be part of Murata,' and they genuinely moved me. From the beginning, I believed this would become a once-in-a-lifetime project, something people could take pride in and a catalyst that would boost motivation, so it hit especially hard. Some employees who didn't participate said, 'If I had known it would move so many people, I would have joined.' I take that regret as something positive, a desire to create experiences that move people going forward."

2. The echorb, brought to life by the passion and commitment of each employee

Murata's participation in the Osaka-Kansai Expo was approved internally in May 2022. The project ran for more than three years, but the first year was far from smooth: ideas and technical proposals came in from across the company, yet it still felt like a frustrating "in-between phase" with no real traction. In the midst of that, the turning point was the idea for the Wonder Stone.

Ando: "Even after repeated meetings, opinions didn't align. When things started heading the wrong way, we'd correct course, but the days of frustration kept going. Looking back, we even built a prototype combining an umbrella with 3D haptics (illusionary haptics) technology to match a pavilion production that made it rain to create rainbows. In short, it was nonstop trial and error. And then, out of nowhere, the Wonder Stone idea came to me. When I said, 'What about a Wonder Stone?' the room lit up instantly. I can still remember the moment everyone resonated with it."

Once the Wonder Stone direction was set, engineers from group company MIRAISENS, Inc. joined in, and the project accelerated all at once. Ando recalls employees shifting into a higher gear and growing right before his eyes.

Ando: "I remember how we truly came together, and how employees proactively drove the project forward. Each person pushed what they could do in their own role, thinking, 'If we improve this, we might surprise visitors even more,' or 'Let's try this to prevent echorb from malfunctioning,' and building idea after idea. That's what echorb, and the pavilion itself, became: the sum of each employee's passion."

3. Technical excellence, all-around capability, and an uncompromising manufacturing pride

Ando adds that, alongside employees' growth and rising motivation, he also witnessed Murata's distinctive technical strength, overall capability, and manufacturing pride.

Ando: "With multiple technology developments, spec reviews, and designs moving in parallel, the fact that we could stay aligned and move forward together is something Murata can do because we've built an integrated production system. Here's a behind-the-scenes detail: echorb wasn't something to be sold as a product, nor was it intended for long-term use, such as five or ten years. Honestly, it only needed to last for the six-month Expo period. But everyone shared the same view: we don't make, and don't want to make, something that breaks in six months. So, based on that, we brought it as close as possible to our standard quality assurance processes. We assumed about one percent per day might be stolen or fail, so we produced roughly 2,000 extra units. In reality, only a dozen or so echorb units failed during the six-month Expo. And thanks to the organizers' efforts, there were no incidents of theft at all."

Pride in participating in the Expo, and pride in manufacturing. At the core, Ando says, is each employee's desire to make someone happy.

Ando: "In our day-to-day work, we don't get to see our customers' faces. But we do see the faces of our bosses, our team members, and our colleagues. How can we make them happy? If you pursue that question every day in the way you work, you naturally create better things. Murata's corporate philosophy also says we operate 'together with all our stakeholders, thankful for the increase in prosperity.' On the other hand, this project was a constant exercise in thinking, 'How can we delight people?' Because that passion connected and spread, I believe we were able to truly move visitors. The desire to delight people more changes how you work, and it also drives innovation. It also created cross-team connections among employees, laying the groundwork for teamwork, ideas, and innovation. Including the pride that it sparked in employees, I believe this project had extraordinary value."

Other Links

• Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan - Wonder Stone "echorb" -
• NO-LIMIT PASSION Wonder stone "echorb" development shows the spirit of innovation to shape the future
• Tell me more! Professor's Future Lab

Related articles

• Osaka-Kansai Expo Technical Article: The Path to a "Once-in-a-Lifetime Project" and "Pride in Being Part of Murata" (Part 2).
• Osaka-Kansai Expo Technical Article - Why Murata Sponsored the Expo - Embracing a Vision for Future Society
• The Forty-year Journey of Femtet, the CAE Software that Continues to Support Murata Manufacturing's Product Development with FEM Analysis