NTT demonstrates International Co-Production using IOWN All-Photonics network at Expo 2025

NTT Corporation conducted “CHO KABUKI Powered by IOWN” at Expo 2025, connecting performers in Osaka, Japan, and Taipei City, Taiwan, on May 24 and 25, 2025, via the IOWN All-Photonics Network (APN). This network, activated by NTT and Chunghwa Telecom in August 2024, facilitated real-time transmission of performers’ movements from Taiwan to Japan, synchronizing them with performers in Osaka for a unified theater production.
The performance featured Princess Miku (Hatsune Miku) and Tadanobu (Shidō Nakamura) in a story about battling the Azure Dragon across the Thousand Cherry Blossoms. Audience participation was enabled through cross-modal search technology, which detected and analyzed penlight movements to integrate spectators into the narrative. NTT’s digital twin technology (AnotherMe®), AI, and cross-lingual speech synthesis created a multilingual virtual Shidō Nakamura to guide visitors and explain earphone usage for the performance. The event was sponsored by NTT and produced by NTT, Shochiku Co., Ltd., and Dwango Co., Ltd., with cooperation from Chunghwa Telecom.
The IOWN APN eliminates optical-electronic-optical conversions to enhance long-distance data transfer, targeting a 100x increase in power efficiency, 125x increase in transmission capacity, and 200x reduction in latency compared to conventional systems. It is part of the IOWN I...