2025 Expo Osaka: Japan Pavilion Security Guard Headset Goes Viral on Social Media; Fans Delight at Similarity to Dragon Ball “Scouter”

The Yomiuri Shimbun

20:00 JST, May 22, 2025

OSAKA — Security guards for dignitaries at the Osaka-Kansai Expo’s Japan Pavilion are going viral on social media for the state-of-the-art head-mounted displays (HMD) worn over one eye, looking like a headset in the popular anime and manga “Dragon Ball.”

The HMD shows visual and textual information sent from the pavilion’s disaster prevention center. When on duty, security guards look at the display to check information such as who will arrive and when, in addition to the face photos of dignitaries they are to guard or anyone seeming suspicious.

Videos taken with a camera attached on guards’ chests are sent to the disaster prevention center in real-time.

Many social media users have been amazed, saying the HMD looks like a “scouter,” a gadget in “Dragon Ball” that measures an opponent’s combat skills. They have posted such comments as “It looks cool,” and “I’m obsessed.”

The Japan Pavilion will host honored guests from foreign countries and regions. Based in Tokyo, the company in charge of security, Teikei Co., developed the HMD to be first used at the Expo.

“We’ll share information with the disaster prevention center and work to prevent any issues in advance,” said a deputy director of the company’s West Japan operations department.