Osaka Kansai Expo 2025

"Banpaku obaachan," or "Expo grandma," has completed a full circuit of all pavilions at Expo 2025 Osaka after visiting the venue for 46 consecutive days since its opening!

Quite a financial burden, as tickets for adults range between 6,000 and 7,500 yen.

Osaka Expo 2025 album!

Not bad: two days of Expo for the price of one.

Expo visitors left stranded following metro service halt

The World Exposition in Osaka opened 30 minutes later than usual at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, following disruptions to the local metro service that left a large number of visitors stranded in the area well into the night before. The opening time was brought forward from the earlier planned 10 a.m., as there was a large build-up of visitors in front of the entrance gate, the organizers said. The Osaka Metro's Chuo Line, which offers sole direct train access from the city center to the expo site on Yumeshima, an artificial island, resumed at around 5:25 a.m. after a power failure hit the line at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. After the subway malfunction, expo visitors planning to exit via the eastern gate, which is connected to Yumeshima Station, were asked to remain inside the site. People were seen sitting in rows beneath the expo's giant wooden structure, known as the Grand Ring, as midnight approached. Buses transported some visitors away from the site and others were able to access a tram line from a different station. A total of 36 people were taken to hospital by Thursday morning due to suspected heatstroke or other symptoms, but none of the cases were serious, local authorities said.

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I wonder what they are studying.

A university student in Tokyo has been arrested in connection with the theft of goods from the official store at the Expo site, bringing the total number of suspects in the case to six.

Tokyo police say 20-year-old Kono Akihiro, who lives in the city's Kita Ward, has been accused of stealing nine items from a shop in June, including folding fans. Five other university students have already been arrested in connection with the same case. All six are self-professed railway enthusiasts, known in Japan as tori-tetsu (撮り鉄)—fans who obsessively photograph trains—and are believed to have made their way to the Expo grounds without even paying their train fares. Kono admitted to swiping "about five fans" and also owned up to dodging fares. When officers searched his home, they discovered roughly 50 Expo souvenirs, including keychains of the official mascot Myaku-Myaku (ミャクミャク), stashed away in the ceiling. Investigators suspect the group wasn't just casually pocketing a few items but may have been systematically shoplifting Expo merchandise on a larger scale, and the inquiry is still ongoing.

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Yesterday, the Expo 2025 Osaka closed its gates. The quest for its legacy has just begun:

Many people around the world remember the 1970 Osaka Expo for its futuristic inventions — the early prototypes of mobile phones, the moon rocks brought back by NASA's Apollo missions, and Tarō Okamoto's haunting Tower of the Sun (太陽の塔). But for people in Kansai, its most tangible legacy is the vast 260-hectare Expo Commemorative Park that still anchors the region's collective memory.

As the 2025 Osaka Expo wraps up its six-month run — a period marked by sweltering heat, long queues, and even a late-night subway shutdown — the event is being hailed as a financial success. Yet, as the gates close, attention is turning to what comes next and to a more lasting question: how will this Expo be remembered?

With global enthusiasm for World Expos far quieter than it once was, and with parts of the site already earmarked for Japan's first integrated casino resort, it remains uncertain whether the 2025 event will leave behind a legacy comparable to that of 1970. Still, organisers hope that the technological innovations showcased, along with new infrastructure such as the remaining 200-metre stretch of the Grand Ring, will ensure the Expo's place in public memory — not only as a display of progress but as the first World Expo held in the post-pandemic era.




Another issue will be how to use the Expo site:

Plans are already in motion to transform the area, with proposals including the creation of a world-class water park to give the grounds a new lease of life. Next door, construction is progressing on Japan's first integrated resort — a vast complex that will feature a casino and is slated to open in 2030. The ambition is to turn the wider area into a global entertainment destination capable of attracting up to 30 million visitors each year.

Of the original Expo structures, only about 200 metres of the two-kilometre Grand Ring on the site's northeast side and a section of the Osaka Healthcare Pavilion are expected to remain. All other pavilions will soon be dismantled and cleared away, marking the end of one chapter and the beginning of another for the man-made island of Yumeshima.

Redevelopment of the site will be carried out in two stages. Osaka's prefectural and city governments will first solicit developers next spring for about 42 hectares in the center of the venue. Private businesses will consider developing a water park and a racing circuit with an eye toward attracting the Formula One racing series. The 40 hectares to the south, including the waterfront area that featured the "Under the Midnight Rainbow" water show, will undergo landfill work and then begin development. The timing and details of the development yet to be decided, but the aim is to attract such facilities as a resort for long-term stays. Construction of the integrated-resort complex itself began in April on a 49-hectare area next to the venue. In addition to a casino and luxury hotel, the site will include an international conference center with meeting rooms that can accommodate more than 6,000 people. The main facilities will be built near Yumeshima Station on the Osaka Metro, which served as the main entrance to the expo.

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Paywall alert: