Visitors to Tokyo and Kyoto might not realize it, but Osaka – one of Japan’s biggest and oldest cities, known more as a business hub than a tourist destination – is gearing up to host this year’s World Exposition. The city has been plastered with the Expo’s red-and-blue “Myaku-Myaku” mascot for months and is abuzz with preparations.
The upcoming Expo in Osaka is scheduled for April 13-Oct. 13, with the theme “Designing the Future of Our Lives.” Organizers anticipate 28.2 million visitors, over 3 million of them from other countries. Nearly 5 million tickets have already been sold.
For many older residents, the excitement is mixed with nostalgia for the last World Expo hosted by Japan, back in 1970.
As in 1970, this World Expo is being staged in Osaka just a few years after the Olympics were held in Tokyo. But while the 1964 Olympics were an enormously successful and popular event at the time, the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, held during the pandemic, were considered a disappointment to many Japanese.
World Expos happen every five years, and last up to six months. The most recent, in 2020, was in Dubai.
The Expo will be held on an island built off the coast of western Osaka using the same technology as at nearby Kansai International Airport, which floats in Osaka Bay. The fair promises multiple prototypes of flying cars, and spokeswoman Sachiko Yoshimura said organizers hope visitors could even take a flying car from the airport to the Expo.
That said, organizers say their emphasis is not on cutting-edge technology as much as international cooperation.
Although the grounds of World Expo 2025 have begun to open up for limited tours of the construction site, the general public can get a sense of the impact of a World Exposition in Osaka by visiting ExpoCity, the site of the 1970 World Expo. It features an immersive Expo ’70 Pavilion, including the still-intact Steel Pavilion, and galleries of Expo ’70 memorabilia like uniforms worn by World Expo “hostesses.”
Visitors to ExpoCity can climb inside the nearby “Taiyo no To” (Tower of the Sun) sculpture, a symbol of Expo ’70 and designed by Japanese artist Taro Okamoto. There is also a playground, a lake with paddle boats and, nearby, “Expo Restaurant,” which sells what are billed as the same style meals served at that fair.
Getting there: ExpoCity is a short monorail ride from Itami Airport, in Osaka. Tickets to the 2025 World Exposition range in price from 4,000 yen (about $38) to 6,700 yen (about $65), depending on entry days, and can be purchased online at expo2025.or.jp.