By Eric Vandenbroeck and co-workers

The Osaka World Expo Opening Today

On the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower in Paris is a tribute to the 1889 World Expo, the very event that led to its creation.

The now iconic landmark was meant as a temporary installation – a “celebration of industry, art and science”, as the sign describes it – to mark the international fair. Then the world’s tallest structure, the tower was “a display of technical expertise, an invention ahead of its time”.

Paris, where the World Expo’s regulating body is headquartered, hosted the “Ode to everything marvelous and magical” again in 1900.

 

Which of these descriptions will Osaka 2025 go down in history for?

The Expo 2025 will be held to achieve a society in which the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal, 17 sustainable development goals set out at the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development held at the United Nations Headquarters in September 2015, have been achieved. With five years remaining until 2030, the target year for achieving the SDGs, 2025 is an extremely important year for accelerating efforts to achieve them.

A towering wooden “Grand Ring” built for Expo 2025 in Osaka pays homage to Japan’s architectural history and is a symbol of unity despite criticism over costs, its creator says.

The 2km circumference of Sou Fujimoto’s striking structure will surround dozens of national pavilions at the six-month-long event from April.

Part of the Grand Ring – touted as among the largest wooden structures in the world – was constructed for the 2025 Osaka Expo

Tourism expert Hideki Endo of Kyoto’s Ritsumeikan University opined that Japan’s management of global events leaves much to be desired.

“The political mindset is still outdated,” he said, noting that there must be more transparency and accountability at every step of the process to retain support.

Earlier Construction work at the site of the Osaka World Expo

The exhibit, housed within a pavilion by Japanese human resources agency Pasona Group, is what Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura told foreign media on Feb 17 he was most excited to see at the Expo, which will be held on the reclaimed Yumeshima (Dream Island) on Osaka Bay.

With the theme Designing Future Society For Our Lives, the Expo highlights the latest in global science and technological innovation, as well as international cultures from the participating 159 countries and regions, including Japan.

The event essentially brings the world, through the exhibits, to Japan, whose 21.6 million passport holders as of December 2024 accounted for a mere 18 percent of its citizen population.

Organizers are targeting 28.2 million people at the Expo, including 24.7 million Japanese nationals.

Traditional techniques for joining wooden pillars inspired by the famous raised platform at Kiyomizu Temple in nearby Kyoto were used to construct the Grand Ring.

Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto is behind the design of the Grand Ring

Such an event facilitates international exchange, even as conflicts rage in Ukraine, Gaza, and elsewhere, and to illustrate this concept, “the simplest shape is a circle”.

Japanese cedar and hinoki wood, as well as stronger European red cedar, have been reinforced with metal to make them quake-resistant.

The wooden beams hold up a sloping roof – 20m tall at its highest point – to protect visitors from the elements as they wander through at ground level. The roof doubles as a “skywalk” with views of the surrounding area.

 Public support for the event is widespread

The dedication ceremony for Expo 2025 took place today 12 April 2025; the ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako, Fumihito, and 1,300 representatives of participating nations. At the time of the opening, eight foreign nations' pavilions were incomplete.

 

 

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